


Divided Lineage

by danie_dono



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Shepard Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-25
Updated: 2016-11-24
Packaged: 2018-09-02 00:41:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8644642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danie_dono/pseuds/danie_dono
Summary: If there was one thing that Alliance Navy Nurse Jane Shepard hated, it was a normal life-a completely tiring, boring, normal life. She became accustomed to it on the Citadel the past year but a turn of events leave her working on the Normandy under her brother, Commander John Shepard.





	1. One of Those Days

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to jamiepage19 for inspiring and helping me with this story. 
> 
> The Mass Effect characters belong to Bioware.

If there was one thing Jane hated, it was a normal life—a completely tiring, boring, normal life. It had been a year since she had settled into the Citadel, working in the Alliance hospital in Shalta Ward. She had signed up as an Alliance Navy nurse when she was eighteen, and soon made the decision to pursue being a Critical Care NP. Since being approved, she was transferred from Earth, where she did most of her studies, on the Citadel.

She sighed, moving through the crowded corridors toward the hospital entrance. People filled the halls, chatting loudly. She walked briskly; avoiding eye contact with anyone, hoping that no one would stop her in her pursuit. She had already worked a twelve-hour shift and she was exhausted and irritated. All she wanted to do was get to her small apartment and crawl into a nice hot shower. Maybe even watch a vid.

She stepped outside, taking a deep breath of the recycled air on the spaceport. She could already feel the tight muscles in her shoulders ease slowly the farther she went from the hospital. A thought suddenly occurred to her and her hand brushed against things inside of the small messenger bag on her shoulder. She frowned, stepping to side. Lifting the cover, she rummaged through the bag, muttering curses to herself. “Great. Just great. I forgot my key card.”

She groaned, walking slowly towards the free transit. It truly had been one of those days. She pressed the keys on the pad lightly, grumbling at herself some more.  It would take her another hour to get home at this rate. She would have to wait for her roommate, Chloe Michel to finish her work in her private clinic in the wards. Falling into the seat inside the transit, she clutched her bag, breathing in slowly as she closed her eyes. One downside to living on the Citadel was using the free transits. They were fast and jerky. By the time you had ridden in one less than five minutes, you would not want to eat again.

She attempted to think of better days. The first day she landed on the Citadel she was excited for something new. She thought it would be an adventure. Lucky for her, she had already arranged to be roommates with Dr. Chloe Michel. She had met the doctor through the woman’s parents, who she had worked under during her time on Earth. She had immediately felt at home the moment she had stepped into the apartment. Both Chloe and her had gotten along well and already had a few things in common.

“Arriving at Upper Wards,” a disembodied female voice announced, its tone sounding harsh as it blared over the transit’s com systems. 

Jane opened her eyes, slowly getting out of the tiny vehicle, exhaling out of her nose. She looked around her, carefully following the bright neon lights. She planned on not getting lost this time. She could hear the large crowd not far from the clinic shouting about Human Rights. The nurse frowned.  The past year, more and more people were ready to see a human councilor seated with the rest of the galactic community. She had even heard bizarre rumors that there was a candidate for a human spectre on the table. Although she agreed that the human population should have more rights concerning galactic affairs, she didn’t think her species should be in control of everything.

Jane pushed the doors interface before it slid open. She stepped inside, smelling the familiar smells of medigel and antiseptic. The clinic was brightly lit, a small empty counter greeting her on her arrival.

“Chole must have let her receptionist leave early,” she thought out loud, walking into the small hallway.

She saw that the door to one of the small private rooms was shut, but she could hear soft murmurs coming from within. Jane shook her head. Chloe probably never heard her come in. She got out her omni-tool, tapping a brief message to her roommate and sent it, hoping that it wouldn’t distract the young doctor from her patient. She re entered the lobby, sitting in one of the seats before opening her omni-tool again to read through her own messages.

A few messages were sitting in her inbox. Most of them were junk mail, but one in particular caught her attention. A small smile spread across her face as she opened the correspondence.

> _ Jane, _
> 
> __ __ _ Hope everything is going well on the Citadel. We just arrived on Eden Prime. The Normandy is doing great. It is flying smoothly. Wish you were here.   Hope to see you soon _
> 
> _Jenkins_

Her smile became brighter. She stored the message in her omni’s drive and scanned through various other letters. Before she could reopen another when she heard the door slid open. Jane looked up from her messages at the clock. It was past hours for a patient to walk through. She got up from her seat, stepping toward the door.

“The doctor is unavailable at the moment. Is there something you—“ Her eyes widened as she took in the turian holding an unconscious bloody human over his shoulder. She stifled a gasp, her mind processing the damage to the body. Burn marks covered the man’s face along with several bullet wounds. “What—“

“Where is the doctor?” the turian demanded.

“She’s unavailable—“

“Maybe you can’t see that well, but this man needs medical attention, immediately!”

Jane shut her mouth, chiding herself.  Of course the man needed help. She really needed to sleep.

_ Focus Jane,  _  she thought, pulling herself together mentally. If she didn’t act fast, the man probably wouldn’t make it through the night.

“This way,” she ordered, rushing past the turian to the back of the facility. She instructed him to put the man on the table as she washed her hands and threw gloves on. Then she went through the drawers, pulling out a mask to cover her face in.

The machinery in the room was already at work, scanning the body carefully, giving detail reports on the man’s health. She could now see that there were serious burn marks on the face and neck and three bullet wounds—on the shoulder, in the leg and in the abdomen. She began by examining the wound on the abdomen, cleaning it carefully before applying medigel. From the corner of her eye she could see the turian shuffling on his feet.

“So what happened?” Jane asked.

“We were on duty near Chora's Den…firefight. Eddie didn’t see that he was behind a fire containment pod and before I knew it he was on fire. He started screaming and I tried to pat him down, but the flames were already devouring his clothing.”

The nurse nodded, keeping her attention on the man below her.  The man was young with a tanned skin and short blonde hair. Like the turian described, she could see the fabric of his shirt and pants were burned in some parts, revealing the fresh burn marks. “It wasn’t your fault. But I don’t understand how you can have weapons to begin with.”

The turian flashed something at her that sparkled in the light. She recognized the insignia. “Oh right…so you and your partner are C-SEC.”

“Yes, the name’s Garrus Vakarian and my partner here is Officer Eddie Lang,” he replied, shifting on his feet again.

“I didn’t realize there were human C-SEC officers. I thought they were council species.”

“Officer Lang had just started with us a month ago. Since there has been such a big bang about human involvement in Council space, the Executor allowed some Alliance and other police officers to join the C-SEC ranks as a test.”

The abdomen wound was healing well with the medigel, so Jane moved to the shoulder wound. She probed the area with her fingers and let out a sigh; the bullet hadn’t gone all the way through. She rummaged through the gear next to her, grabbing the small pliers.

“So I never seen you around. Are you a new doctor for this clinic?”

“No, just a friend of Dr. Michel’s. I was here to see her. I normally wouldn’t play ‘Operation’ on someone unless it was an emergency,” she replied. Jane paused, her attention suddenly drawn to the shuffling sound in the lobby. She nodded to the door. “The doctor is out with her patient. Can you get her attention? I’m going to need her help.”

Garrus nodded and stepped out of the room. The nurse didn’t lift her head until she heard the doctor walk in briskly.

“Jane, you should have knocked on my door when they arrived. I would have come to help,” Dr. Michel said in an exasperated voice.

She shrugged, moving away to give her friend room. “I didn’t know what you were doing and it was an emergency. I wasn’t going to just stand by and watch someone in pain.”

Chloe sighed, dropping the topic as she worked carefully on the patient’s face. “Just next time, tell me before you go super nurse on me, alright? You already had a long day; you didn’t need to be getting yourself worked up on another patient when you’re off duty.”

It was another thirty minutes before the two stepped out of the room. Chloe only smiled when she heard the story about Jane’s awful day, handing her the key card for the apartment. “Just don’t lose it on the way there or we will both be stranded.”

Jane laughed, smiling at her roommate. “I’ll try not to. Be sure not to stay here all night, like you did last week.”

She walked out, finding her bag on the seat she had left it on earlier. She slugged it over her shoulder, peering back at the doctor, who was talking to the officer about his partner’s condition. The turian looked up, nodding his head towards her in thanks. Jane smiled, waving lightly before she walked out of the clinic, finally heading home.

* * *

_ She could smell smoke in the air as she ran through the fields. Her feet were throbbing as she padded through the crops barefooted. There was no time to put shoes on. There wasn’t time to do anything but run. _

__ __ _ She could feel the red liquid on her face and hands dry, caking heavily on her skin. She closed her eyes, trying to take deep breaths—something her physical education teacher had nagged at her to do while running. No—she didn’t want to remember. _

__ __ _ She didn’t want to remember the smell of smoke or the way the fire made the small colony unbearably hot. She especially didn’t want to remember the blood on her face and hands, her mother’s small smile as her eyes dimmed. _

__ __ _ “Shhhh…little one. Everything is going to be okay.” _

__ __ _ Hot tears streamed down her face, pushing herself to keep up. She didn’t want to remember. _

Jane shot up, her eyes scanning the room. She couldn’t smell smoke, feel the heat of the fire or see the blood on her hands. She exhaled the breath she held.

“A dream,” she whispered, clasping her shaking hands together. “Only a dream.”

She rose from the couch, her eyebrows furrowing. She never made it to her bedroom last night. “I guess I fell asleep through the vid,” she thought out loud, rubbing her sore neck, looking at the clock. It was already morning. She never even heard Chloe come in. 

Jane walked into the hallway, her feet lightly padding on the wooden floors. She opened her roommate’s door and peered inside. The bed was neatly made, the room dark and empty. She frowned. Chloe never left her clinic.

She had just left Chloe’s room and headed for the kitchen when the front door opened, revealing a very haggard looking woman. Chloe laid her briefcase on the small table near the door and dragged herself to the couch.

“Ugh, what a night,” she started, slowly taking her shoes off. “I thought I was never going to get out of there.”

Jane pursed her lips, brushing her red locks from her face. “What happened last night?”

The French woman sat there silently for a short moment before she tilted her head towards her friend. “I cleaned up the gentleman you started on before I contacted Huerta Hospital to take him. I was starting to head home when out of nowhere a woman came by wounded. I couldn’t just leave her like that so I took her in, bandaged her up and gave her antibiotics. It took much of the night to get the fever she had down.”

Jane nodded. It was typical for Chloe to help any stranger out. Jane couldn’t help but admire the woman for her big heart. She only wished her friend wouldn’t wear herself down so much.

She pushed herself from the wall, moving to sit next to the doctor, and smiled softly. “Perhaps you should take the day off. I’m not working today. After you’ve gotten some rest, maybe we can go out and have some drinks.”

The corners of Chloe’s mouth lifted slightly, patting Jane’s hand. Jane looked down, only for her to gasp. She grabbed her wrist, examining the petite woman’s hand. “Chloe, where did this rash come from?”

The doctor chuckled, pulling her hand away. “It’s nothing Jane. The woman I worked on was Quarian. I had a reaction to the dextro materials I had to use. Some of it got on my skin when I was working. It will go away in a few hours. Don’t worry,” she explained, lifting herself off the couch. She yawned and stretched her stiff muscles. “I’m going to get some rest. It was a very long night.”

The red head scratched her head lightly. “Yeah, good idea. You wouldn’t want me to find something else to worry about.”

Chloe only laughed, moving away into her bedroom. Jane waited until she heard the door close and then she rested her head against the couch.  Perhaps the day would only get better from here.

* * *

 

“Upper Wards Medical Clinic, this is Jane, how may I help you,” Jane answered the terminal, tapping her pencil impatiently on the desk. Chloe had called her earlier that morning to help in the clinic since her receptionist was sick at home. Jane had agreed, both ecstatic for finding something to do on her day off and also kicking herself for taking a day of peace and quiet away from her. She shoved the thoughts away, throwing out dates for the patient to be able to come in. “How about next week?”

Her thoughts had been elsewhere for a few days. She normally would have heard from Jenkins by now. It had been a while since she had received the message about Eden Prime. Why hadn’t he responded?

“Upper Wards Medical Clinic, this is Jane, how may I help you,” Jane answered the communicator.

The redhead had been excited about finally going on her first date with the Lieutenant. They had known each other for a few years, since she met him on Earth. He had flirted shamelessly with her, getting her full attention. She allowed him to have her omni-tool’s address and soon they were messaging each other whenever possible. Since he had been stationed onto the Normandy though, the message feeds had become slower and shorter. Extranet connections were only so good when traveling through the Mass Relays. 

The silence on the other end of the terminal brought her back to the task at hand. “Hello?”

The sound of a click caused her to frown. Switching the terminal off, she rubbed her temples slowly and closed her eyes to the blinding lights of the clinic. She was still exhausted from the long hours at the Alliance Hospital and the restless nights she had spent tossing and turning, seeing the ghosts of her past.

She lifted her head when she heard the front doors swish open. She forced the smile on her lips, lifting herself from the desk. Five men filtered in. “Welcome to the Upper Wards Clinic. Do any of you have an appointment today?”

The group said nothing. One man broke away from the rest and approached the desk, idly running his hand across the top of her terminal. His wide, menacing smile made Jane’s heart pump in her chest. Her right hand dropped to her side and slowly crept underneath the desk, where a panic button was hidden. One of the other men caught her movement. He reached for his pistol, yanked it out of his holster, and before she knew what was happening, fired his weapon.

Jane screamed as the bullet tore through the soft flesh of her upper arm. She fell to the ground heavily, the pain unbearable. A black booted foot moved closer to her. She inhaled a shaky breath and listened as the intruder reloaded his weapon.

“I wouldn’t move if I were you. Where is the doctor?”

Jane remained stubbornly silent. The man frowned and casually pressed her injured arm with the tip of his boot.

“The doctor isn’t here!” she cried. Pain, searing hot and blinding, coursed down her arm. “She’s on a lunch break.”

In all reality, Jane really hoped that Chloe had heard the commotion and had locked herself in one of the labs at the far end of the hallway. From her position on the floor she could see the button underneath the table blinking and was relieved to see that she had at least accomplished that.  P erhaps help would come before they killed her.

The leader turned back to the group and flicked his head in the direction of the long hallway. His men nodded in acknowledgement.

“For your sake, you’d better hope we find her,” he threatened before pivoting on his heel to follow the rest of them out of the reception area.

Jane released a shuddering breath and let her head fall to back to the ground, listening quietly to the sounds of doors being slammed and furniture being moved as they rummaged around the rooms in search of her friend.

A few moments later the nurse heard shouting not far from her position and she lifted her head turning off the floor just in time to see them push the doctor into the room. Chloe’s eyes meet hers, her pale green orbs shrouded in panic.

“Jane!”

“Quiet down, doc!” the leader barked. He seized her arm and pulled her against his chest, threading one arm around her neck in a strangling grip and placed the cold barrel of his gun against her temple. “I wouldn’t want to hurt your friend now because you couldn’t keep you mouth shut.”

“You can take anything you want. Just please…don’t—” 

“Who did you tell about the quarian?”

Jane’s eyes narrowed as she watched the exchange. So this was about someone Chloe knew. She drew in another deep breath, trying to keep calm. She didn’t want her biotics to flare up, causing more problems when her friend was being held with a gun pointed at her. She looked around her, trying to avoid gaining the man’s attention above her.

“I didn’t tell anyone, I swear!”

“That was smart doc. Now if Garrus comes around, you stay smart. Keep your mouth shut or—” He stopped, his sentence abruptly cut short as his attention was drawn to the front of the room.

Jane exhaled, closing her eyes. Maybe C-SEC had come after all.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

“Let her go!”

Jane thought the voice sounded oddly familiar, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it. The distraction had provided her the perfect opportunity to move. Keeping a wary eye on her assailants, she rose up on her hands and dragged herself behind the desk for better cover. Suddenly she heard the gunfire and her friend screamed. She whipped around just in time to see Dr. Michel fall to the ground, unharmed as more gunfire was issued.

“Chloe,” Jane shouted, waving her friend over to her. The doctor crawled to her, her eyes focusing on the blood-stained spot on her upper arm, full of concern. “Don’t worry, its nothing to worry about.”

“Jane, you were just shot. Of course it is something to be concerned about!”

“You can mother me once we’re safe. Now come here!” Jane ordered, grabbing the woman to sit next to her. She closed her eyes, feeling the familiar heat at the back of her neck as her barriers came up, enveloping her and Chloe.

The gunfire ceased soon after, and once the chaos had died down she lifted her gaze upward, startled to see the turian C-Sec Officer from the other night standing with three armored Alliance soldiers.

“Perfect timing, Shepard,” Garrus said. “Gave me a clear shot at that bastard.”

Jane released the barrier, the pain in her arm flaring up. “Perfect shot? What were you thinking? You could have hit Chloe!” she snapped, hissing at the end of the sentence as she grabbed her upper arm.

“Jane?”

She wasn’t surprised when the man lifted the helmet off of his head. _Of course you would show up now_ , she thought bitterly. She slowly got to her feet and leaned against the counter. “I’m fine, John.”

“Commander, you know her?”

John turned, acknowledging the woman in the pink and white medium armor. “Yeah, this is Lieutenant Jane Shepard of the Alliance Navy Nursing Corps. She’s my sister.”


	2. Unhappy Reunions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jane is reunited with her brother and learns about the fate of a loved one.

_ One by one they died. _

_ A massacre that took all night _

_ They had no chance, it was no fight _

_ You can't kill what has been killed before, _

_ They died… _

-Within Temptation "Gatekeeper"

 

* * *

 

_ “Momma, you have to wake up. Please!” _

_ Jane sat next to her mother, her face covered in dust and grime. Tears coursed down her cheeks, leaving wet streaks that were quickly turning the dirt into mud. She gently brushed the red strands away from her mother’s pale forehead and straightened the woman’s shirt. The batarian slavers lay lifeless not far from her, their green blood seeping into the kitchen wooden floor. _

_ Suddenly she heard the shuffling of feet, alerting her of another intruder. She grabbed for her father’s pistol next to her, aiming it at the door. “Whoever you are, stay put!” _

_ “Jane!” _

_ Jane gasped, lowering the weapon slightly. The smoke was making her eyes tear up more, blurring her vision. “John?” _

_ The figure of her brother moved into the room, pulling her into his arms. The pistol fell to the ground as she clung to him. She choked and sobbed into her brother’s shoulder, mumbling. _

_ “Shhhhh….it’s okay, Janey. You’re safe now. I’m here. I’m here,” John whispered, rocking her back and forth, smoothing down her messy hair. _

_ “Where’s Dad,” she whimpered. “Daddy would know what to do.” _

_ Her brother tensed, clinging to her tighter. “Dad didn’t make it Jane. The Batarians shot him in the fields.” _

_ Jane lifted her head, pulling from his warm embrace. “John, we have to get Momma out of here! I tried to wake her up, but she won’t.” _

_ John looked over, Jane following his gaze as his face dropped. She turned her gaze back to her mother. She was paler than normal, her lips slightly open. Her mother’s leg was still bleeding, causing her to remember to apply pressure to the leg. She had remembered that from health class. _

_ John shook his head. “We can’t help Momma anymore, Jane. We have to move now!” _

_ “No! I’m not leaving Momma!” _

_ “Jane,” John said, his voice lowering. “I don’t think Mom will be waking up. We have to go to the Alliance Base and get help. If there is time, we might be able to get someone to help her after we contact the Alliance.” _

_ “But Momma--” _

_ John pulled at her arm, lifting her from her crouch. Jane cringed, pulling her arm away from her brother. She glared at him as he grabbed for her other hand, dragging her away from the house. _

_ “We’ll come back for her, Jane.” _

_ They moved out of the house, passing into the fields to keep themselves away from the slavers. As they moved farther away, Jane looked back, her gaze resting on the little white farmhouse with green shutters. She could see now the smoke hovering over the house, flames growing larger. She saw that she had left her bedroom light on. Tears welled up in her eyes as the thought finally occurred to her that this would be the last time she would see her home. She would never feel safe again. _

“Jane, you have to hold still. I can’t examine your arm if you keep moving,” Chloe chastised as she grabbed for her materials with her left arm while keeping a strong hold of Jane’s arm with her right.

Jane rolled her eyes, trying to keep tabs on the four others in the room. The turian was busy analyzing and taking pictures of the scene. The two  Alliance soldiers stood off to one side, huddled close together as her brother used his omni-tool to relay the details of what happened before they arrived. She could make out the blurred image of a C-SEC uniform on the orange screen.

“Dr. Michel, are you hurt,” the turian, Garrus questioned, stepping forward in front of the two women. 

Chloe smiled lightly at the C-SEC officer, a blush on her cheeks. “No, I’m okay. Thanks to you...all of you,” she stated. “Jane should be fine in a few minutes, once the medigel starts working.”

“Chloe, I was fine before you played doctor on me. It was only a scratch. The bullet only grazed me,” Jane protested.

Garrus shifted slightly, his face unreadable. “Sorry about that...I wasn’t close enough for the shot yet. I didn’t mean for it to happen that way.”

The nurse winced in her seat, cursing silently, feeling the prick of the needle. She grimaced, grabbing the edge of the table she sat on tightly. “Well aren’t you just the trooper...waiting to take the shot until the intruder has a hostage,” muttered Jane, gritting her teeth.

The turian’s face remained expressionless, shaking his head. “There wasn’t time to think! I just reacted.”

She saw that her brother had drifted closer to them, no longer talking on his omni-tool. “I know those men threatened you, but if you can tell us who they work for, we can protect you.”

Chloe glanced at her warily. Jane tried to give a reassuring smile.

“Its okay Chloe, you can trust Commander Shepard.”

Chloe nodded. She clasped her hands together, trying to break from her nervous habit. “They work for Fist. They wanted to shut me up.”

“They kept asking about a Quarian,” Jane added, rubbing her injured arm. She would have to ask for some pain medicine after her brother left.

The Commander’s eyebrows lowered. “What Quarian?”

“A few days ago, a Quarian came by my office,” the doctor began. “She’d been shot, but she wouldn’t tell me who did it. I could tell she was scared, probably on the run. She asked me about the Shadow Broker. She wanted to trade information in exchange for a safe place to hide.”

Jane bit her lip as she recalled Chloe coming in with the allergic reaction to helping the Quarian. Now she finally realized the risk her friend had put herself through. She reached over, squeezing her roommate's upper arm. Chloe glanced behind herself, smiling at the red head.

“Where is she now?”

“I put her in contact with Fist. He’s an agent for the Shadow Broker," the doctor commented.

It amazed her  just how many people on the Citadel were agents of the Shadow Broker, a mysterious character that had blackmail on every single Council member. The thought of people watching her to benefit herself unnerved her and sent shivers running down the length of Jane’s spine.

“Not anymore,” Garrus declared. “Now he works for Saren. The Shadow Broker isn’t too happy about that.”

“Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker,” Chloe seemed taken aback “That’s stupid, even for him!”

“Saren must have made him quite the offer," Jane muttered. " At least I wouldn't cross such a powerful person without knowing I would be protected first."

John nodded in agreement. “She must have something that proves that he’s a traitor," he thought out loud, his armored hand scratching his head. "Did the Quarian mention anything about Saren or the geth?”

“She did. The information she was going to trade mentioned something about the geth,” Dr. Michael confirmed.

Garrus stood up straighter. “She must be able to link Saren to the geth. There is no way the Council can ignore this!”

John grinned, turning his attention to the two Alliance personnel. “Time we paid Fist a visit.”

Garrus stepped forward, gaining the Commander’s attention. “This is your show Shepard, but I want to bring Saren down as much as you do.”

John looked pensive, as if he was weighing the pros with the cons. Finally he raised his hand to the turian. The C-SEC officer raised his three fingered hand up, grabbing the military man's hand. "Welcome aboard Garrus."

“Before I came here, I heard there was a krogan that had a connection to Fist. I think it might be wise to see what he knows. He may know more about the Quarian,” Garrus added.

Jane frowned. “Can you really trust a krogan?”

John shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter-you’re not coming,” he said, pointing at one of his soldiers. “Kaiden, I would like you to escort Dr. Michel and Lieutenant Shepard back to their apartment. Don’t leave them until I say so.”

Kaiden saluted rigidly. “Aye, Commander.”

“I don’t need to help going to my apartment.”

The slight twitch of her brother’s eyebrow was the only sign of his irritation as his ice blue eyes slowly met her emerald green ones. “It is not the time to be stubborn Jane. Someone just threaten yours and Dr. Michel’s lives. I would feel better if Lieutenant Alenko would took you home and secured the area. These people could know where you live and more men could come back.”

“I could have C-SEC officers patrol around your apartment,” Garrus replied pulling at the blue collar of his armor.

Jane glared at the turian. “I don’t need to be protected. And besides, why would I trust someone that just shot at my friend? Don’t you know the procedures with hostages are to not shot near them? What if that man had just moved a centimeter, you could have killed Dr. Michel.”

“Jane stop it,” Chloe chastised. “Officer Vakarian and Commander Shepard just saved us from a grievous fate. You’re brother is right—these men could know where we live. I think it wouldn’t hurt to be escorted home and to have some extra patrol.”

Jane chewed on her lip, lowering her gaze to the ground. She felt the slight tug on her arm before Chloe snipped the remainder of the silk string. A puff of air escaped her lips when she heard the doctor began to put her tools away.

“Dr. Michael, do you mind giving me a moment with Jane,” John Shepard requested. “I believe Officer Vakarian had a few more questions he wanted to ask you about the intruders.”

She didn’t bother looking as her roommate stepped away, answering the turian’s questions. Jane kicked the table lightly, lifting her eyes to look at her brother through eyelashes. John stood over her, scratching lightly at the stubble on his cheeks. She was astounded how he looked comfortable standing there in combat armor, focused on her.

“You okay?”

“I’ve been better, but it could have been worse,” Jane grimaced, resting her injured arm on her knee. “I didn’t expect you to show up.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to be here either,” John divulged, moving to lean against the table next to her. He went silent for a moment, his face expressive. “I was looking for Garrus and I got a tip that he would be here. I didn’t think I would show up to a fire fight with my sister injured and in danger.”

“I had it under control-”

“Bullshit,” he interrupted, glaring at her. “This isn’t the time for this Jane. You’re lucky you only had a graze wound. You could have been seriously hurt or dead.”

“I,” Jane stammered, before taking a slow deep breath. She lowered her voice. “I understand you’re upset John, but I wasn’t expecting to help Chloe today and get shot. This occurrence startled me just as much as it did you.”

She saw the John slowly unwind, leaning more against the table. “I thought you worked at the Alliance hospital,” he voiced quietly after a long pause.

“I do,” confirmed the nurse. “I had the day off and Chloe needed help here. I volunteered.”

The Commander gave her a sidelong glance. “You volunteered to work on your day off? You are beginning to sound like me Janey.”

Jane smiled, pushing the man lightly on the shoulder with her good arm. She lowered herself to the floor with a small drop, grabbing her bag from behind the counter. She glanced into the hallway, seeing Chloe still talking quietly with the C-SEC officer. Sighing, she settled into a chair, trying to think of anything but the present.

* * *

 

_ Tap. Tap. Tap.  _

She looked at the clock and glowered at the machine. 21:15. Chloe had retired earlier to rest. Jane had felt apathy for her close friend. They had both had a hard day-being hostages, threatened and questioned relentlessly had been disquieting. She leaned against the armrest, spotting familiar C-SEC uniforms from the window. In her peripheral, she could see the Alliance soldier that had brought them home sitting quietly, tapping at his omni-tool. “God, I feel like I’m under house arrest!” she cried, banging her head against the soft couch cushions.

Kaiden looked over at her, a small smile passing on his lips. “You know, I didn’t realize Shepard’s sister would be as impatient as you.”

She tapped her hand against the couch again, inhaling slowly. “Well, siblings aren’t always alike,” she muttered. “Besides, we haven’t lived with each other for eleven years.”

The Lieutenant chuckled softly. “I wasn’t thinking you would be identical, just similar,” he responded.

Peering at him, she could see that the Lieutenant was slim and had light tan with dark hair and chocolate brown eyes. Jane couldn’t help but appreciate his looks. Of course, she had to remind herself that she was seeing someone at the moment. She pushed her back off the couch, leaning on a elbow.

“So what brings the Normandy back to the Citadel? I thought you had orders.”

If she hadn’t been watching him carefully, she would have missed how his eyebrows lowered and his mouth twitched. Being a military nurse, she was familiar with the soldier’s facial expressions. Her stomach twisted involuntarily. 

“Nothing against you ma’am, but the mission was strictly on a need to know basis. All I can say is that we found something that needed the Council’s attention,” he answered after a long pause.

Jane nodded slowly, scratching at her nose. “I see...a lot of what my brother does seems to be confidential.”

The nurse looked fixedly on Kaidan, an uncomfortable silence settling in. She nervously chewed at her lip, trying to think of another conversation starter wasn’t as solemn. She looked back at the clock, deciding now would be as good of a time as any to ask about Jenkins. She was curious why he hadn’t contacted her yet. Days had went by since he had last sent the message describing Eden Prime. “Surely you can tell me when the Normandy was docked, right? I have a friend on there that I haven’t heard from in a while. I was seeing when he would be allowed to have shore leave.”

“The Normandy docked early this morning. We’ve been strictly on business restocking supplies, system checks, and briefings.”

Sighing, she shook her head. It seemed she wasn’t going to get the answers she wanted. Standing, she pointed at the kitchen. “I’m going to get myself a drink. Want anything? We have water, some power shakes, I can make some coffee or tea if you like,” she listed off.

Her lips lowered unerringly when Alenko declined, her feet patting on the stone floors. She hummed softly she remembered her mothering singing to her long ago,pouring water into the kettle and turning on the stove top. Absently she opened the refrigerator, combing through the food. It had been a few hours since she had eaten anything.

“I didn’t imagine the Citadel being so...big.”

Jane blinked, glancing behind her. Kaidan had moved from the living area to the kitchen, sitting on one of the bar stools at the counter. Jane grinned, leaning against the counter.

“I didn’t either when I came here a year ago. I still have trouble navigating,” she confessed a smile spreading across her face. 

Kaidan nodded. “Well, if you see tall white towers and statues, it is probably safe to guess you are on the Presidium,” he jabbed. “There is definitely a gap between their presentation and what’s here. Tracking rivals must be a nightmare.”

“Well, it didn’t take you too long to find me in trouble today...so, it can’t that bad,” Jane commented, pulling the kettle off the stove and pouring the hot water into a cup.

“Ever had any conflicts here? I can’t imagine its easy living here on the Citadel.”

She was scavenging the cabinets, looking for a tea. She was trying to remember where her roommate put the dried tea leaves. She smile brightened finding the familiar teabags, pulling one out and throwing it into the cup.

“I won’t lie, it can be a challenge sometimes,” Jane confessed. “I don’t see too many aliens though since I work on the Alliance base in Shalta Ward, but there has been some slander towards me. I think we bring it towards ourselves with the stresses we are putting on the Council and these Human’s First organizations.”

“It must be hard trying to keep all these cultures working together.”

“I’m happy I don’t have their job,” the nurse muttered. “But all these cultures in one place, it is fascinating. I only hope that someday, we and the other Council races will be able to appreciate each others strengths and learn from each other. Just as they have many things they could teach us, we have our strengths as well. Have you ever seen a turian try to give stitches like Chloe did on me today? It just doesn’t work.”

“You put it that way, there is no way they wouldn’t like you,” Kaidan muttered before stammering. “I mean us...humans.”

A blush crept up into her face, lowering her gaze to the countertops. She settled for grabbing the tea bag from cup, dumping it into the trash. She held the mug carefully in between her hands. 

“You said you knew someone on the Normandy?”

She grinned, leaning into her hip. “I know a few people on board. Joker is a pain in the ass. Back on Earth I often had to do medical check-ups on him. He would avoid me like the plague if he couldn’t find something to tease me about,” she explained. “I’m curious about Corporal Jenkins. We’re...friends,” she paused. 

Kaiden’s eyebrows lifted. “Just friends?”

“Uhhh,” she dragged, gnawing on her bottom lip. She thought this man was polite, nice and maybe even a little attractive, but could she really trust him. She wanted her relationships kept private-especially from her overbearing brother. She had known Robert for a year and things were going well. She even had a feeling that maybe, just maybe she was falling for him. “We’re close,” she answered finally. “Look, it doesn’t matter. I just want to know why he hasn’t called or even wrote me an email. I haven’t heard from him in a few days. He usually pings me when he’s on the Citadel.”

Kaidan’s eyes left hers to stare down at the countertops, his shoulders tense. Again, she felt her stomach churn. She was beginning to wonder what really happened at Eden Prime. She leaned over the countertop, touching the soldier's hand. It was something she had picked up on while in the emergency rooms. A touch reminded the patient someone cared for them. A touch could help a person with little hope of living to fight. 

He looked back up at her, and all hope she had felt earlier shattered.  She knew that look from many experiences in her life. She saw that look on her brother’s face years ago when he told her that they had to leave their home. She had saw that look on the Marines on Elysium when she first started as a Alliance nurse.  The sorrow in his eyes was more than enough for her to put the puzzle pieces together. She took a deep breath, hating herself at how her breath caught in her throat. Her vision was beginning to blur as she fought the tears away.

“Oh, I see,” she whispered. She pushed herself upright. She took the mug, dumping the full cup into the sink. She took another breath, wrapping her arms around herself. “Lieutenant Alenko, if you don’t mind, I think I’m going to retire for the night. The day has finally caught up to me. Please contact Commander Shepard and have him release you from your duty of protecting me.”

Without another word she brushed past him, rushing into her bedroom as the tears began to fall. Her chest burned as she gasped for air, trying in vain to keep herself together. She closed the door behind her, sinking slowly to the carpeted ground.

She felt like a fool. All this time she had thought he was fine. Communications weren’t working. She had even begun to think that maybe he was upset about something she said. She didn’t think this would be the answer. Jane felt hopeless. She could remember her mother’s voice singing softly to her in the dimly lit room. She could remember her father’s callused hand wrapped around hers. She could remember Jenkin’s bright smile.

_ And now that is all he is...a memory. Just like mom and dad _ , she thought bitterly. She curled herself into a ball, crying to herself until she fell asleep.


	3. Unexpectant Surprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Commander Shepard meets with the Human Councilor and Captain Anderson. Jane is caught in the middle of a war zone in the hospital.

Commander John Shepard sat on the oversized chair in the spacious Human Councilor’s office. The space felt empty with the spacious flooring and limited furniture. He just stared out of the enormous windows, watching the many civilizations mingling in the Presidium.

_ “It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel.” _

His thoughts kept returning to the recent events that had occurred.  After landing on Eden Prime, everything had been a whirlwind; trying to get to the beacon before the geth did, the information overload he recovered from the beacon and then waking up in the medbay, only a few hours from the Citadel.

At the Citadel, everything had become fast paced, arguing with the Council and then track the information needed to prove Saren’s deception.  In his search for the truth, he stumbled upon his sister, Jane, injured in a hostage situation in the Upper Wards. He recruited a C-SEC officer, Garrus Vakarian and a Krogan Merc, Wrex. And he managed to track down the only living being with the information to prove Saren was a traitor, a Quarian named Tali.

Since being inducted into the Spectres, the commander had been finishing up business before heading into the Traverse in search of the wanted rogue Spectre. He had bought extra medical supplies under Dr. Chakwas request, dextro-amino rations for the two newest dextro DNA recruits and armor and weapon upgrades.

_ “You are the first human Spectre, Commander. This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species.” _

John couldn’t get the Council’s words out of his head. Him? A Spectre? He looked out of the glass panel, watching the sky cars zoom throughout the Citadel. How was he going to tell Jane about this?

His attention was drawn to the door opening behind him, both Ambassador Udina and Captain Anderson walking in together He lifted himself from the comfortable chair, saluting the Captain, before taking his seat back.

“I got big news for you, Shepard,” started Ambassador Udina. “Captain Anderson is stepping down as commanding officer of the Normandy. The ship is yours now.”

Anderson nodded his approval. “She’s quick and quiet and you know the crew. Perfect ship for a Spectre,” he rambled, before his brown eyes landed on him. “Treat her well, Commander.”

“This isn’t right! The Normandy belongs to you!”

Anderson smiled, patting him lightly on the shoulder. “You needed your own ship. The Normandy is one of the best frigates right now,” he explained. “And you’re a Spectre now, Shepard. A Spectre can’t answer to anyone but the Council. Besides, it’s time for me to step down.”

John shook his head. “Come clean with me, Captain. You owe me that much.”

“Now isn’t the time to discuss this Commander. If you want to know more, we can talk privately about it.”

John frowned, crossing his arms. “Do we have any leads on Saren?”

“Saren’s gone. Don’t even try to find him. But we know what he’s after: the Conduit,” Anderson stated, pacing the length of the office. “He’s got his geth scouring the Traverse looking for clues.”

Udina handed John a stack of files. “We have one lead that might be able to help you find Saren.”

John flipped through the files carefully. “Who’s Liara T’Soni?”

“Matriarch Benzia’s daughter,” Anderson explained. “She’s a scientist who specializes in the Protheans. We don’t know if she’s involved but it might be a good idea to try and find her. See what she knows. Our reports say she was exploring an archeological dig on one of the uncharted worlds in the Artemis Tau cluster.”

Chewing his lower lip, the soldier looked up. “The Reapers are the real threat, not this scientist.”

Udina scowled, shaking his head in disapproval. “I’m with the Council on this one, Shepard. I’m not sure they even exist.”

“But if they do exist, the Conduit’s the key to bringing them back,” Anderson countered. “Stop Saren from getting the Conduit and we stop the Reapers from returning.”

“I’ll stop him,” John stated boldly.

Captain Anderson nodded his head firmly. John still noticed the tight wrinkled around his mentor’s eyes and forehead. From what he had gathered listening to Saren talk about Anderson and the captain’s body language, something bad had happened between the two.

“We’ll start in the Artemis Tau cluster. This scientist may know more about what Matriarch Benzia and Saren are doing,” John stated.  _ And maybe her knowledge of the Protheans could help me sort out what that beacon implanted into my head,  _ he thought silently. He could already tell the Counselor thought he was losing it.

“It’s your decision, Commander. You’re a Spectre now. You don’t answer to us,” Anderson replied.

Udina sneered, pointing his finger at the spectre. “But your actions still reflect on humanity as a whole. You make a mess and I get stuck cleaning it up.”

“I’ll take care of Saren. You take care of the political fallout,” snapped the spectre, his gaze icy towards the politician. 

Udina muttered something under his breath and John grinned. He didn’t mind giving the Councilor troubles.

“Remember: you were a human long before you were a Spectre,” Udina relented, lifting himself from his plush seat. “I have a meeting to get to. If you have anymore questions, Captain Anderson can fill you in.”

John turned to the Captain when Udina left the room briskly. The soldier leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and eyed his mentor. “So what’s really going on Anderson?”

“You’re a spectre now, Shepard. You need the best ship the Alliance can offer and the Normandy is just that,” answered Anderson. “I was in your shoes twenty years ago. They were considering me for the Spectres.”

“Why didn’t you ever mention that?”

“What was I supposed to say? ‘I could’ve been a Spectre but I blew it?’ I failed, Commander. It’s not something I’m proud of.”

“What happened with you and Saren?”

John listened as his mentor explained what had happened. The mission to find the batarian scientist, the sabotage at the refinery and the casualties that Saren had caused. In the end, Anderson had been blamed and all talk of a human Spectre ceased.

John shook his head. “Don’t blame yourself, Captain.”

“I don’t. I blame Saren. I think he wanted things to go bad. He was looking for an excuse to blow that refinery,” Anderson reasoned. “Maybe he just likes the violence. Maybe he was just trying to make me look bad to keep humans out of the Spectres. If so, he pulled it off.”

John sat in silence, watching his mentor. “Captain, I’ll do everything in my power to stop Saren from finding that Conduit and I appreciate you telling me this. I know it couldn’t have been easy.”

“Shepard, if there was anyone that could do this, it’s you. You’re one of the best damn soldiers the Alliance has to offer,” Anderson exclaimed, extending his hand. “Do us proud, son.”

John grinned, standing to shake the man’s hand. He pulled away, pressing on his communicator. “Joker, begin preparations for the Normandy’s departure in 1900 hours.”

“10-4, Commander,” Joker said, pausing. “Commander, urgent messages from Drescher Alliance Hospital have been coming through the intercoms. Something about it being under attack.”

John glanced behind him towards Anderson, his eyes narrowing as he tapped on his omni-tool. “What do you mean the hospital is under attack?”

~*~

"Lieutenant Shepard, there is a C-SEC officer here that would like to speak to you."

Jane looked over her shoulder, nodding at the co-worker. She smiled at her patient, excusing herself from the room. "Make sure he doesn't take his meds before he eats this time," she whispered to the nurse as she took a left in the hallway. She frowned seeing the familiar blue armor that the turian Citadel Security wore. She had never been a fan with police authority. After the attack on Mindoir she had been placed in foster care and ended up falling into gangs. As a teenager, seeing the police was never a good thing.

"Officer Vakarian," she greeted, raising her hand to shake his. "I wasn't expecting you to find me here."

"I'm here to finish up my report on the hostage situation last night. I needed your statement from that night," the officer stated. "Is there any way we can talk about this privately?"

Jane nodded her head, leading the turian down the hallway and into her tiny office. She offered the chair near the unorganized and cluttered desk before she seated herself behind the metal desk. "I understand this is procedure officer, but I don't think you need my tale of the events that occurred. You were there yourself and you spoke to Chloe. She had more intel on the whys than I do."

"But as a civilian, Dr. Michel could have easily missed important details," Garrus countered. "Just to be safe I would like to hear what happened from you. You were trained with the Alliance and have…encountered many hardships throughout your career. There are things she missed that you didn't."

"What makes you think I wouldn't miss the details?"

"Reading your file, I see you're a woman that is a survivor. I would even say you are a fighter."

Jane threw her hand up, silencing the officer. "Wait, you read my file?"

"Your file is on public record Ms. Shepard. I like knowing whom I dealing with," Garrus answered nonchalantly. He leaned back into his seat, pulling up her file on his omni tool.

"Surviving Mindoir at such a young age…you were the top in your class at boot camp…Elysium after you joined the Alliance Navy Nursing Corps, and now you're certified in Family, Acute care and Extraterrestrial care, heavily focused on emergency care," Garrus ticked off, leaning in the chair carefully. Jane noticed how his mandibles kept twitching and realized he was grinning. "I would conclude that you're an adrenaline junkie that loves to walk on the dangerous side of life."

"If you were human, you would say I like to walk on the wild side of life. I get it," Jane grumbled. She looked out of the tiny window, concentrating. "I had been working at the clinic all afternoon, answering calls, making appointments, signing patients in and out—the normal things a secretary does in a medical clinic."

"Anything different about that day?"

"Not much…one call I answered never replied and hanged up. Next thing I knew six men came in. I noticed one had a gun and I did what I could. I pushed the panic button, got shot, and fell on the floor. They didn't know if Chloe was there or not and I told them she wasn't. They found her, and then my brother came charging in," Jane explained with a shrug. "They were just a bunch of Finch's men that wanted to threaten a couple of women. They're gone now."

The officer nodded his head, typing on his omni-tool rapidly. The red head sighed, turning her gaze back to the window. She gasped, before she pushed herself out of her seat, jumping toward the turian. "Watch it!"

Just as the chair collapsed, the window shattered, glass falling around the two of them. Jane lifted her head, blushing when she realized she had landed on top of the C-SEC officer. "Are you okay?"

She heard something explode followed by the building shaking. Her eyes widened, looking at Garrus.

"Do you have anything in here…weapons, breather mask, anything to protect yourself with?"

Jane nodded and crawled to her desk, pulling out two masks and a pistol, handing them both to the officer. Garrus grabbed one of the masks, pushing the pistol back into her hands.

"No the pistol is yours. I have my own weapons. And put that mask on. Whatever they blasted in your window will soon be filling this room with some kind of gas."

Jane frowned, carefully lowering the gun and setting the mask over her face. "What now?"

Garrus peered at her, as he adjusted his rifle. "We're going to have to fight our way out of here."

"What about the patients? I have a responsibility to them!"

"I don't think these people are after your patients," Garrus said, opening the door quietly. He gazed down the long corridor, waving her to follow him. "Keep quiet and low to the ground."

She followed his orders, trailing behind him. "Shouldn't we contact C-SEC or the Alliance? They would want to know about this."

Jane was shoved to the side of the wall suddenly. She couldn't believe the speed that Garrus pulled his pistol from his holster. He was already crouched next to her, shooting down the hall.

"We're surrounded," Garrus swore under his breath, pulling away as a bullet grazed the wall.

Jane chewed at her bottom lip nervously, pulling herself up. "There's an emergency staircase just behind this wall. If we can just move up we can get in there and overload the doors."

"That's great and all, but we're being shot at right now."

"Weren't you just telling me in my office how I'm an adrenaline junkie?" she countered. "You have armor and I can create a barrier that can protect us both. At this point, this is our best option, unless you want to keep sitting here on our asses and getting shot at."

"Fine, we'll do things your way. I'll go first and lay down cover fire. You follow."

Garrus stepped away from the wall, firing his pistol rapidly as he moved towards the door. Jane covered him, using her biotics to throw the nearest merc into the glass window. Just as she saw the turian take cover near the emergency exit, she then rushed out, focusing on the door.

"There she is!"

"Shepard!"

She looked up, losing focus on the situation for a moment. She swore when she felt the bullet tear into her barrier. She threw herself towards the wall, pushing rapidly on the door's interface. She could hear the mercs shouting into their intercoms and Garrus ordering her to open the damn door faster as the metal swooshed open.

Jane exhaled as the door shut behind them, the interface turning red. She grinned, leaning against the door. "That was a close one."

"We aren't out of this yet. We need to block the rest of the doors to this staircase and find an alternative route out of this place," retorted the C-SEC officer, moving closer to examine her. "It looks like the bullet didn't hit you. Pretty lucky."

"They knew my name," denoted the nurse, confused. "How did they know my name?"

The turian's eyebrow plates moved slightly, his mandible pulled closer to his face. "Good question, but now's not time to figure it out. We need to get moving."

Jane rolled her eyes, annoyed with the turian's brunt order. Although she joined the Alliance, she was never a fan of following orders to the tee. She remembered the many times having to run extra because she questioned her authority. She finally learned after the fourth time. Following the turian, she couldn't help but be curious why was the hospital being attacked in the first place? How did those mercs know her name?

Another explosion shook the ground around them. Jane stumbled on the steps, letting out a shriek as she tumbled all the way down. Her vision blurred. She could hear the screaming around her, taking her back to Elysium.

" _ There is no where for us to go! We're surrounded," cried the young nurse standing next to her. _

_ Jane looked out of the small window. She could see the ships on the horizon firing at the buildings. She swallowed, her heart falling in her chest. She had been on duty, working her shift when she felt the ground tremble from the force of the bombs falling miles away. _

" _ There has to be something we can do," she muttered, stepping away from the panicked medical staff. _

" _ The Alliance is out there! They'll help us." _

_ Jane had remembered a time when she believed that same thing. She could remember her home crumbling, the smell of burning flesh and tire still ingrained in her memory. She didn't trust the Alliance to protect them. _

_ She was moving before she could think anymore, running down the stark white hallways. She didn't want to remember Mindoir. She halted in her tracks, peering behind the corner, looking farther down. She saw the heavily armored intruders. They held assault rifles and grenades. _

" _ No one leaves here alive." _

_ Batarians. She could recognize their raspy voices anywhere. Jane clinched her fist, fighting to control her biotics. She glanced down the long corridor behind her. She had to find someway to protect the patients. _

_ She tilted her head back to gaze at the ceiling, dreading the thought that suddenly came to mind. She inhaled deeply, drawing from the dark energy around her and pulled the ceiling down over her. _

"Jane!"

The nurse's eyes fluttered open, taking in the glowing blue visor and glossy blue eyes. Had she lost consciousness? She fought to remember what had happened here. "Garrus?"

"Come on, we have to move," he ordered, pulling her up.

Jane stood shakily, losing her balance again. She could feel a painful sensation running up her left leg. "I think I twisted my ankle," she deemed.

The turian officer grumbled quietly to himself before he helped her up again, lifting her arm around his bulky shoulders. "I overloaded all the doors that lead to this staircase, but I don't think that is going to keep them long. According to some C-SEC logs, there should be another exit somewhere around here. Do you have any idea?"

Jane exhaled, trying to recall the small details of the hospital building. "There is! There's an airshaft on the second floor that intersects this staircase. But I don't know where it leads."

Garrus nodded. "Alright, we can work with that."

Jane stumbled alongside the officer as they went down the remainder of stairs until they came across the second floor. She could see the metal airshaft above her head. She cringed, thinking of being cramped in a dark and compact area. She untangled herself from Garrus, leaning heavily on the stair rail, and inspected the area. It was too quiet for her, the hospital no longer shaking from the explosions. She couldn't hear screaming or gunfire where she stood. She tapped impatiently on the railing, chewing on her bottom lip.

"Do you know why someone would attack the hospital?" she asked him, no longer tolerating the silence around her.

She watched the turian mutter under his breath, pulling the small door to the airshaft open. He stepped back, examining his handy work before he turned his attention back to her. She was beginning to understand why she didn't really care to be around other aliens as she tried to decipher his facial expression.

"I know just as much as you do Ms. Shepard, but I have suspicion that they are looking for something or someone here," he replied. He looked back up at the shaft, returning his gaze back on her. "It's going to be a tight fit, but I think it will work."

The nurse snorted. "Are you sure about that? Crawling through a pipe isn't my idea of fun."

"This isn't about what's fun, it's about getting out of here alive," snapped Garrus, his mandibles twitching. He scratched the side of his neck. "The gas canister that went through your window specifically, interference in communications, those mercenaries calling you by name, and your brother was assigned to track down Saren…Ms. Shepard, I think they're here for you."

John looked up at the crumbling building that was the Drescher Alliance Hospital. He spotted Lieutenant Alenko and Gunnery Chief Williams standing together. He briskly moved through the crowd of reporters and spectators.

"What do we know?"

Williams shook her head. "Nothing much, Commander. All entrances into the hospital are blocked by heavy explosives, all comm channels are blocked, and no one has come in or out."

"The hostiles are wearing unidentifiable armor. However, Wrex thought it might be mercenaries paid by Saren. He and Tali are at the west wing, rigging one of the doors open," Alenko added.

"Where did he get that idea from?" John pondered aloud as he was ushered through the crowd to the other members of his crew. Tali was crouched on the ground, her three fingered hand expertly tweaking through the door's interface.

"Give me a couple more minutes, Commander, and I'll have this door open," notified Tali, her gaze never leaving the door.

"Wrex, you said something about this operation being lead by Saren. What do you know?"

"After you were instated, Saren sent a mass message to every merc in the Traverse," the krogan replied. "He planned on paying any merc ten-thousand credits in exchange for Lieutenant Jane Shepard."

"Jane," John muttered softly, crossing his arms. "What does Jane have to do with Saren?"

"Saren already knows you're a spectre and the Council has assigned you to track him," Wrex pointed out. "What better way to slow you down than attack an Alliance hospital that your brood sister is assigned to?"

The spectre cursed. "Tali, tell me you found a way in."

"Yes, in 3…2…1," Tali counted down. The door's interface changed from red to green, opening. "We're clear, Commander."

"Good. Tali, I want you to stay out here and find a way to get the comms back up. Alenko, stay with Tali. Wrex and Williams, on me."

John led the group, assault rifle on hand as he scanned the area. "According to these reports, Jane's office is on the eleventh floor."

"Sir, I'm getting reports of shooting on the second and fourth floor. I think they're holding hostages," Ashley informed.

John nodded in approval, scratching his head. "Well, I guess we shouldn't keep them waiting. If they want a Shepard, they just found themselves one. Williams, keep scanning for comms and for anything suspicious. Wrex, make sure you're ready to hit them hard."

The Commander pushed forward, directing the group through the narrow corridors. After many attempts, he still couldn't triangulate his sister's omnitool in the building. He paused near the edge of the hall, hearing voices shout orders.

"The south staircase's doors have been disconnected. I think someone recalibrated them," a mercenary reported across the room.

John could see six mercenaries and a handful of hostages scattered throughout the room. The hostages were medical personal and patients of the hospital, huddled next to one another whispering urgently to one another. The mercenaries were around the room—two near the hostages three near the exits and one with a sniper rifle near the large windows. One near the hostages shook his assault rifle near the hospital staff, pointing on the merc next to him. "Get Nedge over there…fix the damn thing. She could be trying to escape."

"Yes, sir."

John inhaled slowly, signaling Ashley to switch to a sniper rifle. He and Wrex would move in while she covered their six. Shepard pulled his shotgun from his back before he pushed himself from the wall, aiming for the merc nearest the hostages.

Wrex's biotics flared around him, slamming the sniper into the window, shattering the glass while John took out the merc closest to their location. He watched one merc fall near a hostage, shot by Ashley. John grabbed one of the mercs, shoving him to the ground as his team finished the rest.

He placed his foot on the human mercenary's chest and pushed him flat against the ground. "What do you want from Jane Shepard?"

The man gasped for air, struggling against the pressure at his chest. "It was the boss' idea. Deter you from the job by ransoming the girl. Once you came with the ransom we would have you and the credits. We would have gotten rid of you accordingly and gotten more credits from Saren."

"Sir, I found the equipment jamming the comms," Ashely noted, pointing at the machine still incased in the metal suitcase.

"Wrex, cover this scum," John ordered with a sneer, glaring at the mercenary. He moved towards Ashley, taking in the machine she stood near. He examined it, lifting his shotgun and shot it until the blinking lights dimmed and completely went out.

With a smirk, John moved from the crowd, initiating his sub-dermal implant. "Alliance Headquaters, requesting assistance at Drescher Alliance Hospital. Hostiles on level two have been terminated."

" _ Commander, is that you? _ "

"Alenko, good to hear you again," Shepard replied. "Give me a sit-rep"

" _ I haven't seen any new activity outside. Tali just started getting comms back up and there have been several calls in the hospital." _

" _ Commander, we are getting something from inside the hospital _ ," Tali interjected. " _ The speaker is identifying themselves as Lieutenant Shepard." _

John exhaled slowly, some of the stress leaving him. "That's good news. Patch her through."

" _ Patching her through…." _

" _ Alliance, this is Lieutenant Shepard requesting assistance. _ "

John felt the muscles in his neck let up hearing the familiar voice. "Jane? Its John, are you hurt."

He could hear Jane's panicked gasps through the connection as she tried to slow her breathing.

" _ John! No…I'm fine but I need help! The mercs…they took Garrus!" _


	4. A Change in Tide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trying to escape the Mercenaries in the hospital, Officer Vakarian is caught. Commander Shepard has to make a hard decision.

_ It was raining. Rain in the small farming colony had always been a good sign, a blessing. Rain helped the plants grow. The rain helped provide for their family. Rain provided fresh water for the crops and their needs in the dry climate. It kept her community and her family living and breathing. Rain was a life giver. _

_ As she watched the fires burn, she knew rain was not any of those things anymore. _

_ Shivering inside the small makeshift tent, Jane tried to avoid looking down at the light red water soaking into the fertile soil. The stench in the air was rotten and smoky. Her throat burned every time she breathed in and out. She knew she would never forget that smell. _

_ She looked to her right, seeing her brother next to her. John sat on a metal stool, his broad shoulders unusually hunched over, his head held up by his hands. His eyes were distant, staring at the destruction that was once their home. His dark brown hair was damp and slightly curling at the edges. He had barely spoken a word since they had left the house again after the Alliance had shown up. _

_ She didn’t want to remember her father’s body crumpled next to the back door, a bloody axe in his back. She didn’t want to remember the glazed look of her mother’s green eyes. She didn’t want to remember the smell of ash, tar, and blood mixed in the air. _

_ Wrapping the blanket closer to herself, she asked herself why this had happened. Why their small farming colony? What did they have that was so valuable? _

_ Jane closed her eyes tightly, trying to remember a happier time. Her mother making bread in the tiny yellow kitchen, her father singing a silly song about a junkyard dog, her brother teasing her relentlessly about that blue sundress she always wore. She thought about lying on top of the large hill behind their house, overlooking the colony, smelling the sunflowers. _

_ Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard the soldiers draw closer to their tent. She pushed off the stool, tiptoeing to the tent’s entrance. Through the small slit in between the flaps she saw the young soldier salute the man in the crisp blue uniform. She remembered that this was the man who had found her and John in the fields, shivering as they clung to one another. _

_ “We haven’t found anyone else alive. I guess the damn batarians took the rest.” _

_ “Anyway of tracking them?” _

_ “No, sir.” _

_ “Dammit,” the officer muttered, running his hand along his sweaty baldhead. He looked towards her tent. The young soldier turned his head as well, his eyes caught hers, nervously looking back to the officer. Jane heart jumped as she raced back to her stool. She had seen young soldiers around the colony often, but never this one. He looked scrawny for a marine and tall. His hair was unkempt and he constantly kept messing with his short uniform. _

_ The red-headed teen sighed, twisting the curls along her shoulders as she observed her surroundings. They were near the small courthouse at the center of the colony, its once plaster white walls scorched black, the roof gone. Many of the businesses’ windows were broken into, the merchandise scattered on the ground. Lying not too far from the tent, she could see a small teddy bear, the fuzzy brown fur covered in blood. She wondered if she knew the kid that once owned that toy and if they had been taken as well or were they killed just like her parents. _

_ “What about them?” _

_ “Found their parents at their house. Both deceased. No other living relatives that we know of.” _

_ The tent’s flap opened and the officer studied the haggard pair, his face expressionless. He lifted his cigarette to his mouth and exhaled a puff of smoke. She cringed at the smell. It only added to the horrendous stench in the air. _

_ “Guess we need to contact child services.” _

_ Jane pulled the blanket around her shoulders closer, not wanting to hear anymore of what the Alliance soldiers were saying. She felt empty. Everything she had known and had taken granted for was gone in a day. She thought about the previous morning, arguing with her mother about her choice of clothing, rolling her eyes at her father’s ridiculous songs. _

_ “Janey.” _

_ Jane turned her head slightly to meet her brother’s gaze for the first time since the attack. His ice blue eyes held a deep sadness she couldn’t place seeing before, it made her heart sink farther down in her chest. Instinctively, she reached for his hand, holding it in her own. _

_ John gazed at their hands for what seemed like an eternity, until his other hand went around her shoulders and pulled her towards him in a strong embrace. Jane held on tightly, the tears she had fought hard against falling easily down her pale cheeks. The embrace was too tight, but she didn’t mind it. For the first time in twenty-four hours, she felt warm and almost safe in her older brother’s arms. _

_ “No matter what happens Janey, I’ll keep you safe,” John whispered against her hair, petting the red curls absently. “I promised Dad I’d keep you safe no matter what.” _

_ Words were forgotten to her, breathing becoming more difficult with each breath. The smoke seemed to thicken around her, suffocating her. The tears stung in her eyes. She didn’t want to remember. Jane closed her eyes, clinging desperately to her older brother as she whimpered. _

* * *

 

The nurse stumbled out of the air shaft, relieved to move her limbs freely without the cramped spaces of the metal tubing. She sat on the tiled floor of the room, leaning her head against the hospital bed. Jane could feel her heart beating rapidly in her chest. At this point, she wouldn’t be surprised if her heart just stopped from all the adrenaline and panic from the past hour.

The nurse scratched at her head, looking around the room. It was an average sized patient room. It consisted of light blue walls, two standard human medical cots, a small vid screen and medical equipment near the beds. She could see personal belongings in the far corner, a reminder that someone was forced out of their room. She stifled a gasp finding a small blood trail smeared on the white tile floors. Had a patient been shot and dragged out of the room?

She heard the turian muttering curses as he dragged himself out of the shaft. He had struggled most of the way with his bulky armor and weapons. She watched him from the corner of her eye as he finally got out, turning his head side to side as he pulled at his armor collar. Jane was curious how often the C-SEC officer did things he didn’t like in his field.

 

Shifting slightly, Jane watched the alien, amazed with how calm he had been through this mess. While crawling through the ventilation shaft, it had reminded her of past running for her life on the dangerous streets as a fifteen-year-old runaway teen. He had been patient with her as she panicked in the tight spaces and she couldn’t go any farther, whispering reassurances and giving her goals to take another step. She had never expected such courteous behavior from another species.

 

The turian moved his head to the left and then the right, stretching his cramped neck. “Any idea where we’re at?”

 

Jane shot a glance to the door, nodding. “Room 213. We’re on the second floor, almost to one of the exterior staircases.”

 

The officer nodded. He fiddled with his visor, inspecting the room they sat in.  “I’m detecting some heat signatures not far from here. We’ll have to be quiet as we leave this room.”

Snorting out loud, Jane rolled her eyes. “Quiet...right. What if they have heat detector equipment like you?”

 

Garrus didn’t respond. He moved about the room, checking the windows, doors, and the map in his omni-tool. Jane already knew the only way out was to the outer staircase. Although they remained on the second floor, it was still too far of a leap to jump out of the windows. The mercenaries had taken control of the main staircase and the large lobby areas on each floor. The farthest northern exit was their best success at getting out without being spotted.

 

Jane lifted herself from the floor, brushing her white coat absently. “Alright, so what is the plan?”

Shuffling around one of the beds, the C-Sec officer squatted. “I’m guessing there are four mercs in that room across the hall. I think we take a chance, catch them surprised, and take them out.”

“Are you crazy? You’ll not only draw those four mercs’ attention but every other merc around here,” the nurse argued. “You may be great with a gun, but I’m far from a sharpshooter.”

“Staying here won’t help us either. As you said, they could have equipment to detect us or they will manually search each room,” Garrus countered. His head tilted slightly, brow plates lifting upward. “You have something else in mind?”

Jane nodded, tapping into her omni-tool. A holo screen appeared, showing the floor plan of the hospital. “At the moment we know there is someone here, and this is where we are,” she explained pointing to the large room centered between the long corridor and the farthest of the twelve rooms in the hall. “This door at the far end is the entrance to the north staircase. It leads straight to the emergency exit. Once we exit, the mercs will know. That door will set off an alarm, unless I am able to disable it from the circuit board.”

“That won’t matter. Once we are out, we can get to the Alliance and C-SEC officers that are outside of this building,” Garrus replied.

Jane nodded. “Okay so this is what I think we should do. There’s a janitors closet just a few doors down from here that has a computer hooked up to all of the systems on this floor. If we can get into it I can hack into the security system, lock all the doors, and give us a fighting chance to get out of here.”

The turian eyed her carefully, his brow plates lowered in thought. “You're skilled enough to hack into a security system?”

“I was trained to do this, yes,” she retorted quickly. She didn’t really want to explain that she had learned this skill with the gangs she hanged around as a teenager and not with the Alliance. “It’s good to know for situations like this.”

“If you say so,” grumbled Garrus, scanning the map again. “We’ll do this your way.”

Jane stood near the door, breathing in slowly to steady her rapidly beating heart. “You can do this,” she murmured to herself, opening the door slowly to prevent any sounds that might alert the mercenaries.

The stark white hall was longer than she remembered, causing fear to tear through her calm reserve. Many of the doors were wide open and medical equipment was scattered everywhere. The blood trail from the room she stood in had disappeared.

Jane pulled her white medical coat closer to her, wishing it could camouflage her with the walls. Staying near the wall, she moved silently, staying low to the ground. The janitor's closet only a few steps away. From where she stood she could see inside of the lobby window where three mercenaries milled about around. Relieved to see that the turian had over estimated, she was still surprised that they were humans. Other than the Tenth Street Reds, she had always imagined other merc groups were mostly made up of krogan and batarians. Reminding herself to breath slowly, she looked behind her. Garrus had just moved from the room they had occupied earlier, and was slowly moving her way. He had his pistol out and his gaze steady on the three mercs.

“Come on Jane. Just one more door down,” she uttered encouragingly to herself, taking a few more steps forward. Each step was painstakingly slow, hoping not to alert the intruders of their presence as they made their way down the hall. It was at that moment that she caught something at the corner of her eye, a small white container with a blinking red light.

“Dammit,” muttered Jane. The small device sounded the obnoxious beeping alarm. Why hadn’t she checked if they had perimeter alarms? She saw the three mercs’ heads turned, finally aware of their presence.

Garrus had his pistol pointed at the door as he rushed towards her. “There’s still time. Run, I’ll cover you,” he ordered. He pulled a smoke grenade from his belt and threw it at the door.

The nurse didn’t argue. Running to the door, she entered the code into the small keypad on the door. She looked to her left where Garrus was shooting at the mercs. His eyes caught hers. She had seen that look before in her mother’s eyes when she had to leave her. Jane opened her mouth and was about to protest until she saw the mercs surround the turian, their weapons aimed directly at him. She opened the door to the janitor closet, closing it behind her and locking it quickly, hating herself for not being able to do something.

“This is not the time for that,” she spoke aloud, turning on a small light on her omni tool. Through the dark shadows, she could see that the closet was tiny, tall shelves reached up to the ceiling filled with equipment and cleaning chemicals. Only a few steps from her she spotted the computer on top of the small desk at the far corner. Before she could mess with the computer, she carefully pushed a metal shelf to block the entrance to the closet. Pleased with her work, she dropped to her knees in front of the monitor screen, and began to hack into the system. It was cramped in the tight space, but it would have to do.

 

She took long deep breaths, focusing on the task at hand. “Just like old times,” she breathed out, typing furiously into the interface. Within seconds she was in the security system. All communication was jammed, and most of the cameras in the main staircase were destroyed. She continued scrolling through the camera feeds until she had found the cameras on the second floor.

Garrus’ pistol lay on the tile floor, pushed far from his grasp, his hands on his head. The four mercs stood over him, weapons ready. With the alarm set off, she wouldn’t be surprised if more showed up soon and started looking for her. She looked around herself and frowned. She was trapped in this tiny closet. She had to find some back-up. She decided she should attempt to contact Alliance Headquarters. By now, someone should have noticed communications were disconnected at the hospital.

“Alliance come in, this is Lieutenant Shepard requesting assistance at Drescher Alliance Hospital.”

Static was her only answer. As she waited she fought down the memories of Elysium, clenching the sides of the desk tightly. This was different. The Alliance brass wouldn’t leave a hospital on the Citadel to defend itself.

_ “ _ Alliance, this is Lieutenant Jane Shepard requesting assistance,” Jane repeated again into her omni-tool, her hope waning with every moment she watched the screen in front of her.

 

“ _ Jane? Its John, are you hurt. _ ”

 

Jane let her head fall on the desk, relieved to hear a voice on the other line. Attempting to slow her alarmed breathing, she answered the marine’s question. “John! No…I’m fine but I need help! The mercs…they took Garrus!”

“ _ Garrus? Garrus is with you? _ ”

“He  _ was  _ with me. We got separated,” she explained hastily, her voice rising in pitch. “I’m looking at security footage right now and its not good, John. They’re beating him…I-I think they’re trying to get information from him! You gotta help him!”

“ _ Jane, I need you to calm down and breathe. We’re going to do everything we can, but we’re running through here blind _ ,” John stated slowly. He was silent before he came back. “ _ You said you were looking at security footage. Any way you can find us? _ ”

 

“Yeah, I think I can. Just give me a second,” she replied, flipping through the screens until she found two humans and a krogan in armor standing in a long hallway similar to the one she had been in earlier. “I have you in my sights. As long as you stay out of the main staircase, I can help you.”

“ _ Alright. What is my fastest route to you?”  _ John questioned in an unfamiliar tone to her. It was the Commander speaking now. She watched on the screen as he waved the krogan and Alliance marine towards him, pulling his assault rifle from his back. The rigid posture wasn’t how she remembered her easily laid back brother. This was the Commander, a trained killer.

“Right, you need to go right. You’re not far from me. I see men in the main lobby on the second floor. You’ll have to take them out,” informed the nurse.

_ “Affirmative. See you soon. Shepard out.” _

 

She gazed up at the screens again, taking the details in carefully. On the top screen she could see outside of the facility. Alliance troops were now beginning to enter the building heavily equipped. They must have accessed the doors system and overridden it. To the bottom left more mercs huddled together with a small group of medical faculty and patients. The bottom right showed John and his crew trekking through the corridors easily enough, checking every door. The other screen showed empty hallways except the middle screen showing Garrus being kicked in the face. He fell to the ground, laying still. She knew from years of experience treating turians in the clinic had acquainted her with the many weak places in their anatomy. From the screen, she could see his right mandible was most likely broken.

A merc moved closer to the turian C-SEC officer, placing his boot on the turian’s face. Jane cringed silently, noticing how Garrus’s hand clenched into fist, his eyes closing tightly.

_ “Lieutenant Jane Shepard, if you don’t want blood on your hands, I’d suggest you come out of hiding or else the turian cop dies.” _

Jane’s heart froze, her breathing shaky. The voice had come from her earpiece accessory connected with her omni-tool. She looked down at the arm device in bewilderment. How did they get access to her omni-tool? How did they know she was watching them? She looked back up at the screen, watching the merc point the assault rifle at the turian’s head, his gaze looking directly at the camera. A chill went down her spine seeing the cold red-rimmed eyes and the disturbing smile plastered on the man’s face. She recognized the signs of a red-sand addict.

_ “Do you really want to be responsible for another person dying, Jane?” _ the man asked, his voice raspy and ragged in the headset.

Jane hesitated, her eyes rapidly looking from her brother on the vid screen to the C-Sec officer. John was too far away gunning down mercs to do anything about the developing situation. What was she suppose to do? Was it wise to speak to these mercs? She glanced at the turian on the floor. Not an hour ago, he had taken her from her work, wanting answers for something she wasn’t sure of. She thought he was hot headed, demanding, and brash. Then the hospital was attacked and he had been there, pushing her to safety, reassuring her that everything would be alright. Could she really just leave him to this fate after what had taken place this afternoon? Taking a deep breath, she switched her channel.

“You have my attention,” she spoke softly into the microphone, gripping the metal table tightly. “What do you want?”

_ “I want you. Come out of your little hidey hole and no one else has to die.” _

Chewing on her lower lip, she looked at her brother passing another hallway. He wasn’t too far now. Just one more length of hallway and he would be there. “You do realize you're not going to get paid now. Alliance soldiers are already storming through this building. It is only a matter of time before they find you.”

_ “Then you should hurry up. The turian only has sixty seconds to live ...fifty-nine… fifty-eight….” _

She abruptly moved from the table, her heart pounding in her chest. She kept asking herself what she was suppose to do now, pushing through the barricade. Frustration took over, using her biotics to push the remainder of the shelf away from the door.

John swore under his breath, but it was loud and clear in her earpiece as she messed with the door. “ _ Dammit, these mercs came out of nowhere. What’s going on at your end? _ ”

“I can’t talk right now!” Jane replied in a frenzied whisper. “Just hurry!”

“ _ Jane? What do you mean…? _ Jane _?” _

Silence was his only answer.

“ _ Shit! _ ”

* * *

Slamming his rifle into the merc’s helmet, John muttered another curse under his breath. He was annoyed. More mercs continue to pour into the hallway, distracting his small team from their destination. His rifle continued to beep at him, his gun now overloaded after riddling a batarian merc with bullets. And then to top it all off, his sister wasn’t responding to his calls, making him assume the worst had happened. If that was the case, he really didn’t have time for this nonsense.

Switching to a shotgun, he pushed through the enemy line, blowing the closest enemy’s head off. He pressed his back against one of the walls, checking his gun again. Wrex charged ahead, head butting a human merc, and slamming another against the wall with biotics. John was impressed by the krogan’s battle skills. He was looking forward to having the krogan battle-master with him against Saren. Ashley wasn’t far behind, hitting targets with her Gorgon assault rifle.

 

From what little he remembered Jane telling him, they weren’t far now. If they could just get through this last wave of enemies.

 

“ _ Commander, I was able to hack into your sister’s omni-tool. She’s on the move, _ ” informed Tali into the commander’s subdermal implant.

John’s grimaced, pushing away from his cover to move forward again. “Where is she?”

“ _ She went across the hall from her previous location, into a small lobby area. I can’t get any footage right now, but I’m working on it, _ ” Tali answered. “ _ You just need to pass this last corner and go left. _ ”

“Thanks, Tali. Keep me updated. Shepard out.”

After this, John never wanted to fight through a hospital again. After fighting through the U-shaped building and the unlimited hiding places in doorways and rooms, he was ready for a nice shot of krogan liquor.

 

“Alright ladies, lets pick up the pace,” John ordered, shooting three of the mercs the krogan had biotically lifted. He heard Ashley shout something around the lines of ‘yes sir’ and Wrex laughing loudly over the chaos and gun shots.

 

The Commander switched back to his assault rifle, turning the corner to the final stretch of hallway. It was quiet compared to the resistance they had encountered since entering the building. Medical equipment was scattered throughout the hall. John felt his stomach clench, his footsteps echoing in the corridor.

“Check every room. They’re here somewhere,” he directed. He checked his omni-tool, seeing Tali had uploaded the map with Jane’s location to his device.

 

“Sir, I’m detecting three armed hostiles three doors to the left,” Ashley specified in a hushed voice.

John acknowledged her comment with a nod, signaling to move forward. Only a few feet away from the door, he heard a shriek, the window in one of the doors shattering. His limbs sprung into action, weapon aiming at the unknown target, and yelling directions over his shoulder.

Opening the door, he wasn’t expecting to see Jane engulfed in biotics pointing her pistol at the ground, eyes wide in shock. A merc kneeled on the ground next to Garrus, clutching his shoulder, his other hand extended to attack the nurse. The other two mercs were hunched over, unconscious. Not taking any chances, John aimed and fired, putting a bullet through the hostile’s head. Startled by the sound of the door and three sets of feet moving, Jane swung the pistol at them.

 

John lowered his weapon slowly. He wasn’t too worried about Jane shooting him, but he didn’t want her to attack with a biotic surge. He could remember the last time she had hit him with biotics as a teenager had left him with a concussion. “Jane, it’s over. You can lower your weapon now.”

 

Shell-shocked, Jane kept the pistol pointed at them as if she didn’t recognize him or anyone at the moment. Not until Garrus had gotten up, putting his three talons on her shoulder and pulled the pistol out of her hands carefully did she react.

The nurse blinked twice before she tilted her head to the side, taking in the room carefully. She stumbled slightly before Garrus grabbed her by her shoulders, guiding her to a chair near the door.

“Good to see you again, Commander. I didn’t know if you would show up,” Garrus commented.

John extended his hand, shaking the turian’s. “Good to see you in one piece, Vakarian. What happened?”

 

Garrus looked over at the nurse. Her head rested against the wall, eyes closed. “I think she exhausted herself. She came in after they threatened to kill me. Those two there,” he pointed at the unconscious mercs, “grabbed her and attempted to drag her out to the emergency exit not far from here. She struggled at first and something just came over her. She shoved them against the wall with a strong biotic push. Then she grabbed the pistol from one of them and shot that guy. I think she was aiming for his head but ended up shooting him in the shoulder.”

John looked back at the man now dead on the ground. With a frown, he moved forward. “Garrus, handcuff those two men. I’ll contact C-SEC and have them interrogate these men.”

 

“Yes, sir.”

“Ashley, have you heard anything from Kaidan?”

“Commander, Alenko says all hostiles have been taken out. Alliance personnel are now moving in to secure the hostages,” Ashley announced.

“Alright, good. Once Jane starts showing some life again, get her a soda or something to get her metabolism back up. In the meantime, stay here. I have to contact Anderson,” instructed John, stepping out of the room.

He opened his omni-tool, contacting his mentor. “Anderson, Drescher Alliance Hospital is now under control. Saren was behind this.”

 

“ _ Saren attacked a hospital on the Citadel, _ ” Anderson said in disbelief. “ _ What was his target? _ ”

John answered. “The merc I interrogated said it was about Jane. I think they were trying to slow me down. Stop me from going after Saren.”

 

David Anderson remained quiet for a moment, thinking over the material. “ _ Whatever Saren is doing, he must think he is unstoppable to attack something on the Citadel. This concerns me. Anything else? _ ”

“Yeah, I’d like to have Lieutenant Jane Shepard aboard the Normandy. As a NP, she would be an asset to this mission. She could assist Dr. Chakwas in the medbay as well as be on ground missions when needed,” requested John.

“ _ John, I understand, but this is a conflict of interest. You should mull this over before making this decision.” _

This is something John had thought about since the speaking to the merc. He and Jane had not always gotten along; they disagreed with each other more than agreed. He wouldn’t be surprised if Jane disregarded an order from him if she felt he was wrong. But after seeing the hospital ravaged because Saren found his weakness, his only living relative, working here made him think there were really no other options.

 

He remembered Mindoir, rushing out of the fields he had worked in to find his father drop to the ground, a batarian pulling out his gun. He had rushed to him, attacking the alien with the plow. He couldn’t remember how it had happened, but he had taken the batarian down, kneeling on the ground next to his father.  His father had looked at him with great confidence, clasping his shoulder weakly with a bloody hand. He remembered the promise he made his father, watching the man he had aspired to be crumble away. Would he be keeping that promise to him if he left Jane here on the Citadel? Would he be protecting her like he promised he would?

“I thought about that, Captain. I think it would be best to have her on the Normandy until Saren’s threat is eliminated. If I leave her here, he could take another chance to hit another part of the Citadel,” John answered.

“ _ John, even if I said no, it wouldn’t mean much. Remember, you’re a spectre now. If you think it is best, then inform Admiral Hackett. Please report back to me after you're finished with your business. Anderson out. _ ”

 

After the conversation with his mentor, John sent a message to Admiral Hackett and then contacted C-SEC, requesting them to take the two mercs.

 

With a sigh, John went back to the lobby. Kaidan and Tali were now present along their group. Kaidan was next to Garrus, inspecting his injuries. Tali sat next to his sister, silently watching her eat a ration bar slowly. Jane kept her focus on Garrus, her gaze calculating. With some reluctance, John went over to them, signaling for Tali to give them some space.

“Are you alright? I heard it was pretty tense for a few hours,” John asked.

 

“I’m tired, but fine,” Jane replied shortly, taking another bite.

“Look Jane, I don’t know what you did exactly, but that was reckless. You could have gotten someone hurt, or worse, dead. What were you thinking?”

Jane didn’t respond, her eyes distant and empty. Her hands shook, most likely from leftover adrenaline. One of her legs was bandage up now and propped up on a chair to keep it from swelling anymore. She looked exhausted.

“I’ve requested that you be transferred onto the Normandy until further notice. It’s for your own protection until we stop Saren.”

The nurse looked down at her shaking hands, rubbing them together as if to keep them warm. He was beginning to think he was going to get the silent treatment until she breathed out a long slow breath. “John, my place is here on the Citadel, not on some ship gallivanting around the galaxy.”

 

“You don’t have a choice, Jane.  As a spectre, I can and will do everything in my power to protect the interest of the galaxy. If that means taking an Alliance nurse off her post on the Citadel and putting her on my ship, then so be it,” John explained. “You’re forgetting that people are dying, and people will continue to die if I don’t do something to stop Saren. I need the best on this mission, and that includes the best medical personnel.”

She snorted, her head finally tilting to look at him, her green eyes leery. “You? A spectre? When did that happened?”

“Just a few hours before this mess happened,” he replied indifferently, pointing at the torn up hospital lobby.

“Alright,  _ spectre.  _ So what happens if I refuse?”

John rolled his eyes. Of course she would want to play hardball after he saved her ass. “Really? You’re going to ask me that? I would contact Alliance Headquarters to apprehend you for insubordination of  a superior officer. Either way, you will be off the streets where no one can hurt you.”

Abashed, the red headed woman, turned her head away, watching Kaidan patch Garrus up. She seemed to have nothing else to say. He stood up cautiously, feeling his muscles ache from the exertion earlier.

“I expect to see you packed and in the Normandy medbay by eighteen hundred. Don’t be late.”

Jane nodded numbly, her gazed focused ahead of her but not really looking at anything. With a frown, John stepped away, directing his team to pack up and head out. Their mission there was complete.

* * *

The distant noise of traffic and the engines purred as the nurse admired the frigate reflect the bright night-lights of the space station, As a child, she would survey the many human space vessels that flew to the Alliance military base on Mindoir. It was unusual to compare this ship to other ships she had watched as a child and also now that she lived in the Citadel. She noticed the exterior was very similar to turian design, the jagged lines smoothed out evidence of human influence. The wording  _ Normandy _ glistened from the lights on the ship.

She leaned against the port railing, taking in the small details of the ship carefully, and reflecting on the events that day. So many things had happened, she was ready to just fall asleep on the spot. A shiver went down her spine as she thought about the hospital raid. So many things could have gone wrong. If Garrus and John hadn’t been there--Jane repressed the thought before it had time to fully form.

She rubbed her face with her hands, trying to clear the images in her mind. This day reminded her so closely of Elysium. She had just started with the Alliance, her first station as a nurse. She hadn’t even been there a month when they were attacked. She had enjoyed the work; it was peaceful without the fear of someone pulling a gun on her. She was finally able to help someone, the way she had wished she had been able to help her mother on Mindoir four years before.

The Alliance base on Elysium had been small, surrounded by an extensive alien culture. It wasn’t uncommon to see young military recruits escorting asari maidens around. On her days off, she would sit at a small cafe and just observe the different people that passed her by. She had begun to see humility in other alien species after so many years of distrusting and hating them.

The day the Skyllian Blitz occurred, she had been working when the first bombs had fallen a far distance from the hospital. At first she thought it was the just the navy practicing, until the hospital began to shake violently and large crowds of people stormed through the building, seeking protection from the pirates.

After her family was attacked on Mindoir, she refused to be helpless anymore. While her colleagues cowered in the hallways, praying for the Alliance to come, she had rushed to the main floor, looking for a way to protect herself and those around her.

It wasn’t long until she was overwhelmed and exhausted that John had shown up, taking the mercenaries down. He had taken her under his wing, protecting her like he had done since she was a baby. It had bothered her. She wasn’t a child any more. She could protect herself. Jane had already been on her own for six years, roaming the streets of Los Angeles with the Tenth Street Reds.

A mirthless laugh escaped her. Reflecting on the events of the day, it was  déjà vu all over again. Her brother had found her in the midst of gunfire.  

She heard the airlock swish open, gaining her attention. Six marines stepped out, divided into two lines of three, all in dress blues. She first recognized Kaidan, standing front left followed by the woman she remembered to be with John this afternoon. Jane remembered her name was Ashley. Bewildered by the formal setup, she peered between the marines that marched out, trying to see the object they carried.

Her hand came to her lips, trying to muffle the quiet sob. The chrome casket was lifted onto the rolling cart outside of the airlock, the deep blue Alliance flag stood out on the metal, the Alliance insignia a bright white. She shivered violently as she watched the marines continue down the ramp solemnly. As a nurse, she wasn’t a stranger to death. Jane had lost her parents when she was young and the pattern had continued when she pursued her career. Nonetheless, it never changed the chill that went down her spine and the gooseflesh forming on her arms.

The faces that were with John during the hospital raid were blurred. Was this one of John’s men that died in the incident? Had she been so careless not to ask if she could assist with a wounded soldier? wondered how many more caskets she would see? Would it one day be a patient she couldn’t save? A friend? Her brother, John? Shakily she inhaled.

“Jane?”

Jane looked up to see familiar light blue eyes. John was in his dress blues, gazing at her questionably. She lifted her head, straightening her shoulders. This couldn’t have been from the hospital incident she decided. The body wouldn’t have been delivered to the Normandy. This had to be from the travels and missions the Normandy had encounter.

Remembering Kaidan’s sad expression the night before when she had mentioned Jenkins, the heart wrenching tears that streamed down her face, the nurse felt the breath escape her. She had hoped, even prayed that it had been a nightmare. Jane had even just thought she had mistaken the Lieutenant’s sadness. Now watching the formal procession. 

“It’s Jenkins,” she whispered, afraid her voice would crack if she spoke any louder, “isn’t it?”

John stood rigidly, his face unreadable. His was the commander right now, but that didn’t stop him from look at her. “Jane, you know him?”

 

She could feel the tears streaming down her face. She wiped at her eyes with her sleeve, stepping away from her brother to stand next to the casket. Kaidan nodded to her sadly, stepping slightly to the side to give her room. Jane could feel her brother’s questioning gaze at her back. She brushed the wrinkles away on the flag, keeping her eyes focused on the white emblem. She smiled tenderly.

“I’m sorry, Richard. I was really looking forward to your visit,” she whispered weakly. Her legs shook slightly, and her eyes were brimming with tears. She lifted her hand to her lips before she lowered them on to the coffin. She stood there briefly, remembering his hand in hers, his mischief brown eyes and his large smile.

Stepping away, Jane watched at Kaidan and the other Marines began to push the metal coffin away towards the elevator, John following behind them. She could see Captain Anderson standing holding the elevator, his eyes grimly watching.

As the small troop vanished down to C-SEC headquarters, she turned her gaze back to the Alliance ship. She had been prepared for since the night Kaidan stayed with her after Dr. Michel’s clinic was raided. The feeling of loss was nearly overpowering. Silent tears fell down her cheeks, trying to remember the happier times. There wasn’t many since she was often busy at work and he had been away often on different tours, but she did remember the small party they had before she moved to the Citadel. They had gone to one of their favorite clubs not far from her apartment. They had drunk more than they should have, playing a ridiculous drinking game, two truths and one lie. At some point, it ended with them dragging each other to her apartment and crashing on the couch. She had woken up with a mild migraine and Jenkins grinning ear to ear, holding a cup of tea.

She knew now that her relationship with Jenkins may had been blossoming into something more than she originally thought. Jane wanted to kick herself for not seeing it sooner, but it didn’t matter anymore. All she could do now was accept it and move on. She would just have to live on, and hope the next time she would be able to say something sooner. With resolve, Jane lifted her bag up onto her shoulder and stepped into the airlock, not looking back.


	5. Searching through Grief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jane struggles to adjust to her life aboard the Normandy. Commander Shepard searches for Matriarch Benzia’s daughte

_ She found peace amongst the crowded streets, sitting in the small cafe drinking the chai tea latte she ordered every time she was on her break during the day shift. Her hands still shook from the rush she felt during the most chaotic days in the emergency room. Sitting on the porch outside of the small business, she inhaled in the humid salty air. She could hear the waves crashing against the cobbled streets.  _

 

_ Sipping the velvety drink, she continued to scroll through her email, her jaw tightening.  It was the tenth rejection letter she received to join the medical team on an Alliance vessel since she was stationed on Earth. Although the nurse had done the required counseling, the black mark during her stay in Elysium still remained on her record.   _

 

_ Sighing, she deleted the email, moving on to the next. Her brother, John was currently on Arcturus station. He was one of the top candidates for a position on a space vessel that had been rumored to be construction with the cooperation between turians and humans. If the rumors were true, this was a large step between relations with the two species. She snorted, reading the document. Of course “Mr. Perfect Solider” would be chosen.  _

 

_ “Something amusing?” _

 

_ Jane looked up from her omni-tool, annoyed. The soldier had followed her to this cafe for nearly a month. His smile was gleeful as he moved impatiently in front of her. “May I sit down?” _ __   
  


_ “No,” she answered, resuming sorting through her email. “What do you want this time?” _

 

_ “You told me you wouldn’t ever date a private.” _

 

_ She could distantly remember the conversation, nearly two months ago when he had passed out as she took his blood during drug test. She had told him she could be his friend, but nothing more, not until he was promoted. _

 

_ He sat down in the chair in front of her, laying a small bouquet of flowers next to her cup. “Here, these are for you.” _

 

_ Sunflowers and baby’s breath. Jane could remember what the sunflowers looked like against the morning rays on Mindoir. They would grow tall in the fields. Three had laid on the floor of their house, the vase that had onced housed them shattered. It was one of the last things she saw in her family home before John and her ran. She fought the emotions to throw them, to scream, to do anything that revealed  the terror she felt when she saw these cheery flowers. Touching the delicate yellow petals, she whispered her thanks. “They’re beautiful.” _

 

_ The nurse forced herself to push the flowers aside casually to stare at the young man in front of her. She’d enjoyed his company for the past couple of months. His smile is warming, easy to speak to, and his laughter was contagious and sounded like a welcoming storm after weeks of drought. The marine scratched the back of his neck nervously, looking at the ocean in the distance. “I thought they might brighten your day some.” _

 

_ She nodded, the small smile on her pink lips . “How did you know I would be here?” _

 

_ “You always come here during your break,” he says, chuckling. “I may have also asked one of the nurses when your shift was.” _

 

_ She chewed her bottom lip in thought. Her bet was on Christie. She couldn’t keep her mouth shut when someone flirted with her. “Ok, so you found me. What now?” _

 

Richard Jenkins was gone. It had been ten days since Jane had watched the casket silently paraded from the Normandy, but she still continued to check her messages, hoping to find a new email from him. Surely this was a mistake, Richard couldn’t be dead. He had promised to be at the Citadel once the Normandy was ported. 

 

_ “When I come back, I’m taking you out on the town.” _

 

Clenching her fist, she ran faster. Jane couldn’t sleep since being ordered onto the Normandy. The moment her eyes shut, she could hear Jenkins laughter or worse, imagine his death. She didn’t know the official report, but she had seen enough death to recreate something. Her first night, she dreamed of armor piercing bullets penetrating his armor, his body crumpling. onto the rocky surface. Jane had woke screaming hitting the glass sleeping pod, panicked. She had felt cold, as if death was taking her to the grave. Kaiden had been the one to open the pod, holding her tightly in his arms.

 

The Lieutenant had offered to listen, but she refused. She was in control. Jane Shepherd wasn’t a weak person. At thirteen years old, she had survived an attack on her home colony. She had held her mother in her arms as she died. At nineteen and a newly licensed practical nurse,  she was near the center of the battle ground in Elysium.She would survive.

 

So she worked. Karin Chakwas was a knowledgeable doctor and appeasing person to work with. Jane appreciated the doctor’s patience as she became familiar with her new station. The nurse worked checking inventory, updating Alliance records and giving the staff regular check-ups. Off the clock, she slept on a makeshift cot in the medical lap and ran n the treadmill in the storage compartment of the lower deck.

 

_ “You know you don’t have to worry about you figure, right? You’re perfect just the way you are Jane.” _

 

“Shut up,” she huffed, cranking the speed up. Jane could imagine Jenkins chuckling, a cheesy grin plastered on his face as he leaned against the wall.

 

_ “Can’t a guy admire his girl once in awhile.” _

 

Stopping abruptly, she nearly fell backwards off the treadmill before the machine automatically shut off. Fighting to catch her breath, Jane lowered herself to perch on the machine. “Dammit Rich, why can’t you just leave me in peace,” she whispered hoarsely, fighting back the tears. The nurse had kept it together mostly as she create her new routine on the spacecraft. As people whispered about the Corporal, she had kept on task. She hadn't broken down and cried. 

 

_ “Hey, Jane don’t cry _ ,” he whispered. “ _ I’m not going anywhere. _ ”

 

“You idiot,” sobbing, she wiped her eyes. Jane looked up at the florescent lights, imagining the sun. “You went somewhere I can’t follow.”

 

There was no response. She thought she would feel relief not hearing anything back, but the unsettling ache only seemed to grow. Maybe she was going crazy. She chuckled at the thought. It would be poetic for her to lose her mind now. 

 

Picking herself up, she adjusted her clothing and brushed the tears from her eyes. After cleaning up the exercise area, she stepped into the elevator, pressing the button for the crew deck. She was relieved to see the lights still dim and few people around. She quickly took a shower and changed into her scrubs-a blue long sleeve uniform, black pants, shoes and gloves. Brushing her shoulder length red hair, she proceeded to begin her day. Grabbing a coffee mug, filling it with hot water and taking a small bag of black tea, she swiftly moved to the medbay.  Clocking in, she started her normal routine of looking through active marine charts prepping for the mission on Therum. 

 

The door  _ swished _ opened in her peripheral vision. She caught a glimpse of blue armor and eye piece. Continuing to scan through medical files, her mouth lowered in disfavor. While she was grateful to the turian for his service on the Citadel, Jane was annoyed with his frequent visits into the medbay. It seemed the officer visited when she was on duty-whether it was the day or night cycle!

 

“Officer Vakarian, I wasn’t expecting you to visit today,” murmured Jane, fighting to sound professional. “Is your shoulder hurting? Mandible? I can prescribe some pain medication.”

 

The nurse could hear the C-SEC officer shifting from foot to foot. “No, just wanting a check-up, see if I’m fit for duty yet,” he answered, his harmonics buzzing.

 

She sighed in frustration, turning around in her seat. She crossed her gloved hands neatly into her lap, forcing the smile onto her face.  _ Be professional, Jane.  _  “Officer, we have already discussed this before. You’re injuries to your right mandible and shoulder are healing properly. Muscle tissue is building back in your shoulder and will take time. I suggested wearing civvies to not stress your shoulder and let the muscle tissue heal properly. As I said before, see me in a week and we can reassess your readiness. Alliance procedure says-”

 

“I’m not Alliance,” Garrus interrupted. “My shoulder feels fine and my mandible is an easy fix with a helmet.”

 

She bit her lip hard, Jane lifted herself from her seat. “Fine, remove the armor. I’ll check it again, just like I did yesterday,  _ and _ the day before. Let's see if you miraculously healed in the past twenty-four hours.”

 

While Garrus removed the armor from his upper body, Jane pinged Kaiden, Ashley and John, reminding them to stop by the medbay for their routine pre-mission check up. Kaiden was a dutiful soldier, and Ashley was “by the books.” John however, was willing to “forget” from time to time. She had heard rumors of what had happened on Eden Prime, the beacon the Alliance retrieved had activated, imprinting something onto her brother. Dr. Chakwas had mentioned the Commander being unconscious and muttering under his breath. Irregular sleeping habits, hallucinations and headaches had also been added into the medical file. It reminded Jane of her time on Earth. She had been implanted with an illegal biotic amp and inhaled red sand like a kid ingesting  sugary pixie sticks.The high she felt was something she had never felt before. As a teen, she felt unstoppable and powerful. Coming down on the drug however felt terrible. She would sweat profusely, curled up tightly on her small cot. It felt like her body was tearing from the inside out. Her dreams felt like reality and haunting.

 

Looking over the screen on her omni-tool, focused on the turian’s carparce. “Vital signs are good, Officer. The wound is healing remarkably well. No discoloration or blue streaks,” she stated, placing pressure on the wound. “Does that hurt?”

 

Garrus shook his head, confirming her report. She shifted the keyboard beside her, recording the information. “Any increased pain, bleeding, or drainage?”

 

“Negative.”

 

“Fever? Chills?”

 

“No.”

 

Jane looked at the Garrus critically. “What kind of weapon do you use, Officer?”

 

Brow plates raised, Garrus scratches at his left mandible. “Excuse me?”

 

“What kind of gun do you prefer to use on the field,” Jane asked, impatiently.

 

Although she wasn’t familiar with turian body language, the nurse guessed he looked uncomfortable for a moment. A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips.  _ I imagine he’s asking himself why a nurse needs to know these things. _

 

“Sniper rifle, mostly,” he answered, left mandible twitching.

 

“I see,” the nurse trailed off. Touching the wound again, she pushed again with the force of her biotics, startling Garrus. He growled, grabbing his shoulder. He muttered under his breath words that were undecipherable to her translator.

 

“Sorry,” she said automatically, closing her omnitool. “I tried to use less force than normal. The kickback from your rifle would be equivalent to what I just did. One shot, and you would be toast out there on the field.”

 

“Could you give me a little warning next time,” Garrus growled, glaring at the nurse.

 

She shrugged. “If you’d known, I wouldn’t have gotten accurate data,” Jane replied. “Just take it easy Officer Vakarian and trust me. You’ll be back on the field next week if the wound heals properly.”

 

In silence she cleaned the wound and reapplied bandages briskly before letting the C-SEC Officer redress. Clearing the bed and putting away supplies, her gut churned in guilt. For seven days, Officer Vakarian returned to the medbay wanting to return to the field. She’d seen soldiers before, wounded and antsy to return to their jobs. The turian was wounded because of her, protecting her from gangs that had planned to take her for their own reasons. She had yet to show her gratitude. 

 

What was she suppose to say though?  _ Hey, thanks for getting shot for me _ , she thought, grimacing.  _ You’d sound like a total ass.  _ She closed the cabinet, staring out medbay windows. John was sitting at one of the tables, drinking coffee with some of the crew. She frowned as she thought about what John would say in this situation. Would he let it go or say something? He was better at these things, better with people (aliens in this case) mostly? Where she struggled, John succeeded at communicating with everyone, making them feel important.

 

The medbay doors opened, making Jane’s heart stop. “Officer, wait,” she commanded, turning around. Garrus was standing, head tilted in confusion. Now that the bright alien eyes were on her, she lost her train of thought. She opened her mouth, before closing it again. Had she lost her mind?

 

“Yes, Ms. Shephard?”

 

“I-” she hesitated, combing her hands through her hair.  _ Breath Jane, breath. _ “I hadn’t taken a chance to thank you for the other day. I may not have been here, if it weren’t for you.”

 

Garrus stepped toward her, making her heart beat rapidly. She tapped the counter two times, before shoving her hands in her pockets awkwardly. “You went beyond your duty for me, Officer Vakarian, and then you got shot and-I’m really sorry.”

 

His left mandible lifted up, probably the turian equivalent of a smile. “I wouldn’t say I went beyond my duty Ms. Shephard.”

 

She exhaled, pushing herself away from the counter. “Let's cut the Ms. Shepard crap. We’re going to be working together and living in the same space until this Saren businessbusiness is settled. Call me Jane.”

 

“Alright, Jane,” he stated. “Then you need to call me Garrus. Officer Vakarian was my father.”

 

She forced a smile, shifting her feet. She felt awkward, the conversation dwindling. “Visit me again in a week Offic-I mean Garrus. We’ll see if your shoulder is healed by then.”

 

“Yeah, sounds good.” he turned away, the medbay doors opening again. He turned around, his left eye covered by the visor in her view. “And Jane, you should get some shut eye when you get the chance. An exhausted medical physician is never a good thing.”

* * *

 

_ She sat in the child’s chair, her knees scrunched up to her chest. Outside the window, she could see the leaves were not green like Mindoir but instead yellow and orange, blowing in the light breeze. She pulled the t-shirt tightly around her arms, goosebumps forming on her lean arms. They had offered a light jacket when she arrived, but her arms were too long and the jacket only covered slightly over her elbow.   _

 

_ John had been taken a day ago. He had fought, pressuring the social worker that they needed to stay together. His steel blue eyes glared at the lady that wreaked of overly sweet perfume. “Jane is my sister. We have to stay together.” _

 

_ Unfortunately the arguments were futile. He was escorted in the government van and was gone. Jane wondered if she would ever see him again.  _

 

_ Tracing the skid marks on the shiny tile floor, she tried to stay strong. John had promised that once he joined the Alliance military that he would come for her. They could be a family again. She just had to stay strong until then. _

 

_ “Jane Irene Shepard.” _

 

_ She looked up, frowning after seeing the smelly woman walking towards her. The sound of the high heels clicking on the floors annoyed her. She wanted to be back in the grain fields, basking in the heat of the sun.  _

 

_ The lady stopped in front of her, peering down at her through her dark rimmed glasses. “It’s time. The van is waiting for you up front. You’ll get to meet your new family.” _

 

_ A new family. Shakily she stood up, hating the feel of her heart in her throat. She didn’t want a new family. She wanted her brother back. She wanted to be on Mindoir listening to her dad sing off tune to his guitar and her mother dancing in the kitchen in her floral apron, Jane couldn’t imagine a new family being able to replace everything she lost.  _

 

_ Fastening her seatbelt, she watched the trees fly by her. If she believed hard enough, Jane thought perhaps all of this would be one bad dream. She would wake up in her bed. _

 

_ She just wanted to wake up. _

* * *

 

 

The day couldn’t get any better as far as John was concerned. First, the Normandy ran out of coffee. How someone could have forgotten to add coffee to the restocking list was beyond the Commander. Then of course he had to land on the forsaken planet Therum. The dry heat made his throat dry and eyes itch. Sweat poured into his eyes, cursing silently as he rolled from cover to cover, avoiding the Geth Armature. 

 

“How big can these damn things get,” he grunted, pressing his body heavily against the crate. His assault rifle had overheated, giving him a chance to look around. Ashley was holding her own, laying on the ground. She taken down the geth sniper, and was aiming at the armature. Kaidan was farther ahead behind a rock, typing signals into his omnitool. The geth was weakening from the overcharge, the gears in the machine screeching as it tried to stay upright.

 

John grabbed a grenade, flinging it towards the machine. The explosive landed near the foot of the machine, detonating. The Commander sighed in relief as parts flew around them, the blue light dimming on the armature. His ears rung, he touched the earpiece inserted into his helmet. “Report.”

 

“Clear,” Ashley clipped.

 

“Good here, Commander,” Kaiden added.

 

Lifting himself from the ground, John moved towards the sealed door. “I think T’soni will be in here,” he stated. “Best be on your guard.”

 

Other than the few encounters with geth, the trip through the mine was quiet--too quiet in John’s opinion. If there was an aerological research area, shouldn't there be scientist, or experts in the area? The cramped spaces and questions, only left him with a raid beating heart and a headache. 

 

The cramped elevator screeched loudly, sparks shooting out from the stressed tension rods. The commander swore, stepping away from the elevator as it came to a stop. “Well, there’s our way out, gone.”

 

Kaidan shrugged, jumping off first. “It could be worse.”

 

“How? We’re stuck in an ancient Prothean mine with Geth. It’s official, we’re doomed,” Ashley countered.

 

John snorted. “Nows not the time to be a Debby Downer, Williams. Mines usually have more than one exit in case there is a collapse,” quipped the commander, taking point. “Stay alert. There could be more geth around.”

 

Sliding down the broken metal ramp, he squinted at the bright blue light emitting from the area. He could hear a soft voice, pleading for help. Blinking a few times, he found the source of the cry. An asari in a white and green lab coat floated in the blue light, her arms outstretched and rigid. Her eyes blinked rapidly, as if stunned to see someone.

 

“Can you hear me out there? I am trapped. I need help?”

 

Kaidan stepped beside the spectre, investigating the small entrapment. “Sir, I haven’t seen anything like this before.”

 

John stepped forward, tilting his head to the side. “Liara T’soni I presume.”

 

“Thank the Goddess,” the asari sighed. “I did not think anyone would come looking for me.”

 

“Are you okay? How did you even get in there,” Kaidan asked.

 

“Listen, this thing I am in is a Prothean security device. I cannot move, so I need you to me out of it. Alright?”

 

Ashley rolled her eyes. “Are we really suppose to believe that? You’re a Prothean expert who happened to accidentally trap herself in a security device made by the Protheans. How do we know this isn’t a trap you created with Benzia and Saren?”

 

Liara’s eyes widened. “What? My mother,” she exclaimed. “I may be Benzia’s daughter, but I’m nothing like her.  I haven’t spoken to her in years! Please, just get me out of here.”

 

John looked between his comrades. Despite her words, the Spectre still found it hard to believe that after everything they been through, Saren wasn’t waiting in the shadows to sabotage their efforts. He also knew that having Benzia’s daughter on their side could be beneficial and help them in their search. Sighing he looked around. “We’ll find some way to help you. We just need to figure out how to get past this energy field.”

* * *

 

“I have been thinking about taking up bullfighting, what do you think?”

 

Jane coughed violently, choking on the apple sauce she had just swallowed. Patting her chest, she sat next to the pilot, breathing deeply. She could feel the burn in her esophagus.. “Yeah,” she squeaked, before she cleared her throat. “If you’re going into bullfighting, then I should be the prima donna for  _ Madam Butterfly _ .”

 

Joker looked up from the Normandy’s console, “You, singing? I’d pay to see that.”

 

Jane rolled her eyes, leaning against the metal divide for the two pilot stations. “Why don’t you make my day a little easier, and get your sorry ass in my office. You haven’t taken your meds and you have PT today.”

 

“Shit, that’s today,” Joker groaned, touching the holo screen. “You know, you’re my favorite nurse. Always have been. Great sense of humor. Anyways, can we reschedule for another time? I’m kind of busy watching all the flashy buttons.”

 

Pursing her lips, the nurse folded her arms across her chest. “I’m relieved to hear that I’m your favorite nurse,” she said dryly. “And I understand that you're busy. That’s why I took the liberties of bringing your meds. I also believe that a walk around the Normandy would be sufficent for your therapy. I really didn’t want you to miss out.”

 

She smirked, listening to the helmsmen swear under his breath.While Joker had been stationed in Vancouver in flight school, he visited the walk-in clinic she worked with various  broken bones here or there. His wit had drove the doctors crazy, leaving her to be the one to put up with the man’s mannerisms. She learned long ago to be ready to play hardball with Flight Lieutenant Moreau.

 

Joker flinched, his eyes narrowing on the nurse practitioner. “I changed my mind. I hate you. You’re an evil person.”

 

Shaking her head, Jane leaned over the pilot’s chair, tilting it to get better access to her patient. Handing him the small container of meds, she smiled. “As one of the Normandy’s healthcare providers, it's my duty to make sure all Alliance personnel are at optimal health levels. Whether you like it or not Jeff, it's important for your health that we maintain the therapy that was suggested by the therapist in Arcturus,” she said calmly.

 

Joker scoffed, standing upright on his crutches. “Reality check for you Jane, I’m crippled. Always have been, always will be. No matter how many exercises those damn therapist give me, it won’t change the fact that if I twist the wrong way I’ll end up with a broken rib,” stressed the helmsmen, taking a shaky step with his crutches. “Secondly, my health should be the least of your concerns. It’s obvious you have barely slept since stepping foot onto the Normandy. You’re eyes are bloodshot and you’re barely keeping it together since you saw that casket a week ago.”

 

If it wasn’t for the fact that the pilot was balancing on his two legs and crutches, and a high chance that he would end up breaking a bone or two, she would have shoved him against the metal walls. Instead, the fire burning in her eyes turned downward on the metal grades below her feet. “How did you know?”

 

Rolling his eyes, the flight lieutenant tilted his head to the side, ushering her to walk with him. “You seem to forget that I knew you before the Normandy. Jenkins couldn’t tell enough people when you finally agreed to date him. The few times he came to visit me here on the bridge, he wouldn’t shut up about how he couldn't wait to see you on the Citadel,” he explained.

 

Nodding silently, she cradled her right arm to her stomach. “Robert wanted me to tell John. He arranged a dinner at some sushi place for the three of us,” she confessed softly, her throat dry. “I didn’t imagine any of this happening.”

 

Joker stopped, startled. “Wait...does Commander Shepard not know about your relationship with Jenkins?”

 

Inhaling through her nose, she looked up at the dim lights overhead. She had been dating Robert Jenkins for a year. Thinking it was a relationship that was short-term, she didn’t tell her brother. It wasn’t John’s business to know who she spent her time with. Despite the Corporal’s requests, she hadn’t budged. Now, as she began to see dark colors from staring at the lights, she questioned her decision. Was it really because she didn’t care about her brother’s approval? 

 

“ _ Joker! Get the Normandy airborne and lock in on my signal. On the double mister! _ ”

 

Nearly halfway down the bridge, Joker swore under his breath. Pressing into his ear comm, the pilot answered. “Aye, aye, Commander. Secure and aweigh. ETA eight minutes.”

 

Joker grimaced, taking a couple more steps. “Look, I’m not going to tell the Commander anything about this, but you need to. Sooner or later it will come out, because shit like this does,” he added. “Now excuse me while I save everyone’s ass.”

 

* * *

With another addition to the field operatives came the responsibility of cleaning out a fallen comrade’s weapon locker. After the mission debrief and speaking to the crew members, John Shepard stood like a statue, reading the name on the weapon’s locker for the tenth time. The Commander had thought about cleaning the locker before they had left the Citadel, but couldn't find the strength to do it. Standing there now, he remember the young soldier's ready smile. Jenkins had been a part of the team and had been under his command. He had so much to offer to the Alliance, John imagined that eventually, the marine would have flew through the ranks, leading his own men and women. It wasn’t the case though. Jenkin’s body was laid to rest, dying to protect his home from an enemy he didn’t know.

 

Taking a deep breath, he imputed his code into his omni-tool, the lock clicking open. Inside was exactly how the corporal left it. The assault rifle Jenkin’s loved was missing, lying on the ground somewhere on Eden Prime. An extra Alliance bluish grey helmet hung on the hook and below it a pistol from Armax Arsenals. On the door, two pictures were taped. The first was of Corporal Jenkins in uniform along with what John assumed was his parents in Artus Station. 

 

John looked below at the second picture. Jenkins had an arm around the woman, a broad grin on his face. The woman was fair skinned, eyes green and red hair flowing in the wind. John looked behind himself, checking to see everyone was busy around him. He swore to himself, pulling the picture off the door to take a better look

 

He didn’t know if he was relieved or more frustrated that his eyes were not playing trick on him. The woman in the picture was his sister, dressed down in a long sleeve pullover and black leggings. John looked at the back of the picture reading the small delicate words written in black ink;  _ Gouse Mountain, Vancover July 2182 _ .How did he not know that Jenkins knew his sister? He took the pictures, tucking them into his pants pocket before digging more into the locker. After finding random black socks, a toothbrush, and a small notebook, The Commander to frowned, finding the small velvet black box at the corner of the locker. 

 

Taking the pictures and tucking them into his pants pockets, John bite his lip. He knew Jane had been stationed on Earth for a few years before being transferred to the Citadel. He was also familiar with Jenkin’s records, being in Vancouver and being promoted to Corporal. How was he not informed of their relationship?

 

“ _ Commander, we are on route to Sparta as requested by Admiral Kahoku. ETA in six hours _ ,” Joker announced through the intercom.

 

John rolled his shoulder, trying to loosen the tight muscles. After the near death experience he had today escaping the mine, he wasn’t looking forward to driving in the Mako searching for missing Marines. He had six hours to get complete Therum’s official report for the Alliance, sort through half a dozen assignments and get some shut eye. He grabbed a pair of black socks, a toothbrush, and a small notebook left in Jenkin’s locker.

 

Just as he was about to close the locker, his eyes glimpsed a flash of something small in the back. Reaching into the back corner of the locker, his fist came back with a small black velvet box. His throat tightened, seeing the object. He opened the box carefully, his heart beating rapidly in his chest.

 

The ring was simple, a silver band, the sides of the band wrapped around like a celtic knot. A small sapphire heart sat on top, glittering in the dim lighting. John remembered his sister once saying sapphire was her favorite stone.  _ It reminds me of the summer nights on Mindoir _ , she whispered to him once when they were window shopping on the Citadel during his shore leave.

 

Closing the tiny box, the Commander clutched it in his fist. He already felt guilty for Corporal Jenkin’s death. The marine was too young. Now, with this information settling in, he felt confused. He remembered when Jane saw the casket, her eyes wide in disbelief, tears streaming down her cheeks. He had only thought that the sight distressed her because a life was taken. He hadn’t even considered that the nurse knew the person inside. That she was close to the Corporal or even loved him. Why hadn’t Jane came to him? Why hadn’t she told him? 

 

Tucking the box in his pocket beside the pictures, John walked briskly to the elevator. Jane had some explaining to do, but it would have to wait for another time.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to make it clear that I do not believe the foster care services are completely cruel. Just like many other things in life, there are good foster parents and bad. I respect the many that take in these children from many different backgrounds and care for them. Some are heros to foster children. Jane’s experience in foster care is not how everyone’s experience is.


	6. Never Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jane gets an unexpected message from an unknown source. Commander Shepard debates on how to confront his sister.

“I heard the asari they dragged onto the Normandy the other day was really messed up. Like not just messed up from whatever battle the Commander pulled her out from, but also messed up with drugs or something. They didn’t notice it until they were briefing her when all of a sudden, she collapsed. I’m unsure if the Commander is right in having all of these aliens on this Alliance vessel.”

 

Jane glanced at the small group in the mess hall, eating the spongy-like steak and mashed green beans that was dinner. She grimaced at the smell, a combination of fish and overripe bananas. Grabbing a ration bar and her mug, she strolled through the room, her mouth turning downwards looking through the leftover tea on the beverage bar. The nurse grabbed the minty herbal bag and reluctantly dropped it into the hot water. For the next few days, she would be dragging and have a irritating pounding at the base of her neck from the lack of caffeine.

 

“I heard that she’s the daughter of someone that works for Saren. How does the commander know that she also works for that turian bastard,” the woman’s voice was silvery. Peeking from her Omni-tool, Jane saw the hair pulled back in a ponytail, the dark tendrils curled. She admired the woman’s carmel complexion, reminding Jane how she hadn’t seen natural sunlight in over a year. From her vantage point, she could see Dubyansky on the Alliance uniform.

 

Her eyes scanned the small group. She recognized the short man sitting beside Dubyansky, the blonde hair cropped short on top and shaved on the sides. The nurse remembered she had prescribed the CIC Officer buproprion to relieve pains tied to the stress working on the Alliance Vessel. She knew the name started with a g.

 

“Garcia? No, something else,” she thought aloud, chewing on her bottom lip as she searched the Normandy Crew list. “Oh, Grecio, of course.”

 

Jane had been introduced to the asari the Alliance crew mentioned days before, dehydrated and exhausted. She had examined her before the blue alien had taken residence in medical storage. Besides knowing the asari was in perfect health and was a scientist with ancient alien cultures, the nurse knew very little about her.

 

She closed her eyes. Her eyes burned from the ship’s arid climate and constant use staring at endless screens. The two weeks were taking a toll on her. Jane heard that they were returning to the Citadel for supplies once they left the Artemis Tau Cluster. Four days John had investigated the surrounding planets for resources, taking different teams down. She had seen very little of her sibling

 

Her green eyes opened, meeting bright blue. Nearly losing balance on the small seat, Jane gapped. “Dr. T’soni?”

 

“You’re Dr. Shepard, right?”

 

“No, not doctor. I’m a nurse practitioner,” corrected Jane, gesturing for the scientist to sit in front of her. “I’m basically is a nurse with more education. I can diagnose and treat patients without the direct supervision of a doctor.” 

 

“Ah...yes, that makes sense,” Dr. T’soni muttered, cupping the mug in her delicate hands. 

 

Jane watched the asari intently. She was familiar with asari on the Citadel and the many rumors that came from the soldiers on the Alliance base. They were nearly ageless, time flowing slower for them compared to the other known races and had natural biotics that they could control effortlessly. Comparing Dr. T’soni to other asari though, the nurse assumed she was young from her gracelessness and naiveness. “Is there something you needed Dr. T’soni? I’m currently not on duty, but Dr. Chakwas should be able to assist you in any of your needs.”

 

“You have the same name as the commander” the scientist uttered suddenly, her eyes leaving her mug. “I assumed you were bonded or married, but now I see it. You have the same nose.”

 

Choking on the herbal tea, Jane coughed. “What,” she squeaked.

 

“You’re his sibling,” stated the asari, a smiling tugging on her blue lips. “Forgive me, I have little experience with your kind and it's hard not to see all of the human race as the same.”

 

The nurse shook her head, a small smile falling on her face. She couldn't agree more with the archaeologist. Being on the Citadel, she had felt the same way around turians and asari. “You’re fine,” she wheezed, flinching at the burning sensation in her throat. “It’s understandable.”

 

“So is it really true about the Commander, then?”

 

Jane dubiously gazed at the alien. “What about the Commander?”

 

Liara looked around cautiously, leaning towards her, blue eyes looking at her with excitement. “Is it true that he came in contact with a Prothean beacon, that he was able to receive a message from the device?”

 

Shifting in the chair, Jane shrugged. “I know very little about what is going on around here. I was assigned onto the Normandy after what occurred on Eden Prime,” she answered, leaving out the little details. “I cannot give out confidential information about any of my clients.”

 

“Oh, no I wouldn’t expect you to...,” Liara rushed, her cheeks darkening.

 

“I can tell you that my brother is not crazy, and hasn’t lost his mind,” She interrupted, leaning closer to Liara to speak softly. “If John says he saw what he saw, I believe him.”

 

Liara nodded her head before changing the conversation to something lighter, but Jane was fixated by her earlier statement. Her relationship with John had teetered since they were separated after the events of Mindoir. There was so much left unsaid between them, it made the nurse uncertain. Did she really believe her brother? Did she really trust him? 

 

Abruptly, her omni-tool pinged, startling the nurse. Jane sat upright on the metal bench, cursing under her breath. She looked at the large blue eyes in front of her, Liara’s mouth twitching in mild amusement. Apologizing, she opened her inbox. Reading the short message, she could feel her body tensing, eyebrows lowering, her left eye twitching, and the mild pain of a headache in the back of her neck.

 

“Is something wrong?”

 

Jane looked up, shaking her head. “No, I just need to take this message. It’s about the shipments for the Normandy. Excuse me,” lying she pushed away from the table, her mouth in a permanent frown. She took the elevator, greeting the Requisition Officer, in the Cargo Bay. Trekking through the boxes, she lingered in the leftover medical supplies, opening the message again. 

 

The message was sloppily encrypted, making her cringe. She became proficient with decrypting as a child, working with the tiny messages her mother would send with her in her lunch. It was always a game, a challenge to overcome. Jane honed the skills much later in the streets, hacking into security feeds and intel. Anyone could read the message, including her brother who was incompetent in encrypting. Jane sat on a nearby crate, her eyes scanning the message.

 

A little bird told me you were a Red. Once a Red, always a Red. Need a favor. Come, or you’ll regret the consequences. 

 

-F

 

The mild tension at the back of her neck flared. Her hands shook, glowing blue in the dimly lit cargo. She needed to throw something, hit something, anything but sit here and stare at the short threatening message. It had been years since the nurse made the choice to never look back on that life.

 

“Attention: Mass relay run in five minutes, all personnel must secure themselves to the nearest harness. Make sure your harness is securely fastened and all workstations cleared.”

 

Jane tracked the location where the message was sent front, shaking her head at the incompetency of the idiot that sent a message through Citadel servers. Securing the message with stronger encryption, she closed the message. Moving through the cargo and securing the harness between the Requisition Officer and Gunnery Chief Williams, the nurse stared ahead of her, calculating her next move. No one would know. No one.

 

~*~*~

 

It wasn’t her fault. That’s what the psychiatrist told her at each of her sessions. It wasn’t her fault that batrians came to Mindoir. It wasn’t her fault that her father was speared in the head. It wasn’t her fault that her mother was shot in front of her. It wasn’t her fault that everyone she knew was dead. Well, not everyone. John was still alive somewhere she reminded herself. When she asked why they took John, the psychiatrist didn’t give her answer. Again, it wasn’t her fault. The word felt weird on her tongue, like the tingling sensation of the carbonated candies she bought in the school vending machines.

 

The psychiatrist with his perfectly manicured nails was full of bullshit as far as she was concerned. The truth was it wasn’t her fault that they placed her in three shitty homes. The first, a group home outside of Vancover. The people were kind, but eventually she came back from playing outside to see her belongings packed into two black trash bags. The next one, the other foster children reminded her quickly of her place. They went through her things, taking what they wanted and leaving her the scraps. She was grateful when she was escorted to the back of the blue van, her remaining belongings again packed in a trash bag.

 

It wasn’t her fault that she dreaded walking into the pristine white house with the manicured lawn. Her foster father, Austin had two rules in the home; bring enough money to pay for his red sand and to never tell a soul. Break any of the rules, and you paid the consequences. She learned the hard way, limping from the cuts left from the leather belt on her legs and back. 

 

It wasn’t her fault that she couldn’t make the money to avoid the beatings. Employers laughed. Who wanted a fourteen year old that couldn’t work as many hours as the aliens and minorities? She kept her head high, remembering her daddy’s favorite words from a famous scientist in the twentieth century. ‘Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.’

 

It wasn’t her fault that after being beaten and broken, she was at a crossroads. She laid on the quilted blanket on the twin sized bed, staring at the tiny triangle fabric, her only friend standing in front of the door, pale freckled cheeks and dark brown eyes waiting for an answer.

 

“If you keep going this road, Zorra,” the boy slide his index finger across his throat, a small chill running down Jane’s spine. “You got skills Zorra. The Reds would keep you safe from our monstruo foster father in exchange for your skills.”

 

Even though she was fourteen, Jane wasn’t stupid. The Reds would use her tech skills to steal anything of value. She would live a criminal life in exchange for her life. She cursed under her breath, clenching her shaking hands tighter around the quilt. Her eyes closed, she could envision her mother’s green eyes bright and focused, working on the next secret message to put in her lunch. Did her mother ever think her daughter would become a criminal because of the puzzles she left for her to find? Did her father ever think that teaching her how to shoot a shotgun would give his daughter the opportunity to murder?

 

“What’s it gonna be, Janey?”

 

The red-head pressed her forehead against the ragged quilt. “I'll think about it, Curt,” she snapped. Despite Curt being her only friend and ally, she despised his connections to the drug cartels and gangs. 

 

She heard Curt’s light foot steps and the door across the hall close. Jane exhaled, her eyes brimming with tears. She curled her small body into the blankets, trying to will time to go back. Back to a time when her mother wasn’t shot, her father wasn’t murdered, her brother wasn’t taken away. Back to a happier time, before Mindoir was attacked. 

 

She heard the psychiatrist mantra repeat in her mind-’It wasn’t her fault.’ She scoffed at the thought, sitting up in the twin size bed. The clock was ticking, the days counting down to “rent day,” as he foster father loved to call it. Jane didn’t want to die. She didn’t want her body buried somewhere no one could find her. She needed to survive.

 

Jane unraveled herself from the blankets, walking lightly on the creaking wood floors. Peeking into Curt’s room, she saw him smiling at her, nodding his head. He picked up his omni-tool, speaking into the device. This was her crime and she would bite the bullet when the time came.

 

~*~*~  
Two weeks away from council space, ducking bullets and tracking down missing people, Commander Shepard was relieved to finally be back on the Citadel. He found the darkest corner in the nightclub, lighting the cigarette he craved since he related the news to Admiral Kahoku about his unit’s fate, handing the commanding officer the soldiers’ tags, a heavy weight shifting from his shoulders to the other. It hit too close to home, reminding him of Akuze. He was known as a hero, single handedly fighting back the batarians. John could only remember the pain in his shoulder from the impact of the blast, listless expressions of his brother-in-arms, the screams of civilians trapped in the burning buildings and his sister, her eyes wild and filled with a rage he was all too familiar with.

 

The soldier found comfort in the rough paper between his knuckles and the burning sensation in his lungs. John inhaled, the euphoric haze clouding his thoughts. He just wanted to forget for one moment that he was Commander Shepard, the first human Spectre, that he was on an important mission to track down Saren, that the entire galaxy was in danger of being destroyed by a mysterious enemy (at least according to the beacon).

 

He pulled the tiny ring out of his pocket, twirling the ring ontop the glass table. They had forty-eight hours to restock and refuel the Normandy before they traveled to Attican Beta cluster. John knew his sister would be visiting with her former roommate, Dr. Chloe Michel. He would speak to Jane about Jenkins before they departed.

 

“Who’s the lucky girl?”

 

John exhaled, watching the smoke swirl around the murky room, the bright neon lights flashing around the woman standing in front of him, cantered on her right hip. “Williams, surprised to see you in a place like this?”

 

Ashley rolled her eyes. “I could say the same ser, First human sepectre smoking in the darkest corner of a night club. Rough day?”

 

“More like rough month,” John scoffed, leaning back in the chair. “Are you just going to keep blocking my view of the bar or sit down already?”

 

The woman looked behind her, as if aware of her location before she shrugged, pulling the chair out with a loud screech. “If you insist, Ser.”

 

Waving the waitress down, John ordered some drinks, smashing the bud on the table. “I’ve tried to stop, before...the smoking that is,” he explained. “Its starts off fine, a week, maybe two weeks, but then I’m stuck between a hard place.”

 

“It’s not a problem, Commander.” she waved off. “We all have our ways to release the tension. God only knows we need it now tracking a Spectre across the galaxy.”

 

Agreeing silently, John placed the ring back into the black box, tucking it away in his pocket. He could feel the Chief’s questioning eyes at the action. He leaned on the table casually. “There isn’t a girl. I bleed Alliance blues and have little time for relationships in between missions.”

 

Frowning, Ashley leaned back, crossing her arms. “Okay, fair enough. So the ring-”

 

“Belonged to Corporal Jenkins.” the commander interrupted, thanking the waitress before he downed the drink. Placing the glass down, John’s steel eyes meet the Chief's. “I found it in his locker while I was cleaning out the rest of his belongings. I wanted to return it to the lucky girl.”

 

“Shit,” Ashley scratched the back of her head guilt reflecting in the strobing lights. “I shouldn’t have assumed...I...dammit, I’m sorry Shepard. It’s not easy contacting the families after…”

 

He swished the amber liquid around in the second glass, contemplating the soldier's words. Ashley had lost everyone from her unit on Eden Prime. The other day he had witnessed her conversation with a mother of her former comrade. It hadn’t been her job, but she felt it was her duty as a friend to the deceased friend.

 

“I assume you know her then, the girl” Ashley said. “You think it's wise to give her this...a piece of a future that she couldn’t ever have.”

 

“Honestly, I don’t know,” John admitted. “I know the girl, very well. I’m unsure how she’ll take it.”

 

“No disrespect sir, but if it were me,” Ashley began. “If I lost some I loved on a battlefield, and then I was given this gift of a promise that can’t exist no longer….”

 

She inhaled sharply. “Flow down, cold rivulet, to the sea, thy tribute wave delievered: No more by thee my steps shall be, For ever and for ever.  
Flow, softly flow, by lawn and lea, a rivulet then a river: Nowhere by thee my steps shall be For ever for ever.  
But here will sigh thine alder tree and here thine aspen shiver; And here by thee will hum the bee, For ever forever.  
A thousand suns will steam on thee, a thousand moons will quiver; But not by thee my steps shall be, For ever for ever.”

 

Shaking his head, John grinned. “I never thought I’d hear you quote poetry.”

 

“Just because I can drill you between the eyes at 100 meters doesn’t mean I can’t like sensitive stuff,” Ashley snapped before sitting upright. “Just don’t spread it around...ser.”

 

He chuckled, taking a sip. “I never said you weren’t a lady of fine taste. So where did the love of poetry come from?”

 

She relaxed, laughing as she reminiscence about her family-her father’s love of poetry and the trouble her sisters would get into. John smiled, asked questions at all the right parts and even laughed about the poor boy that messed with the wrong Williams girl. He tapped the box in his pocket, deciding that he would let this one go. If the opportunity ever came up, he would tell Jane, but he would not break his sister’s heart any more than it was.  
~*~*~  
Inhaling slowly, Jane mentally went through her list, her fingers tapping rapidly on the console screen. She had two minutes to hack into the system, disable the security cameras and open the vault before someone noticed her on the rooftop or the crew three buildings down, guns ready.

 

When she had knocked on Curt’s door nearly forty-eight hours ago, she didn’t expect that he would find something so soon for her to do. She also assumed she would be doing small tasks like collecting money or transferring smuggled goods from one side of the city to the other. She didn’t believe that she would be hacking into an Alliance weapons vault on her first job.

 

She swore under her breath. She should have listened to Curt when he had told her to keep her mouth shut. Of course, Jane didn’t listen, opening her mouth when she overheard a small group discussing their plans to steal weapons from the Alliance. 

 

It had been a foolish plan entailing hijacking the armored vehicle transporting the weapons to the Alliance base twenty minutes away. She understood the reasoning behind the plan, the vulnerability and easy access to the weapons, but the cost were high. It didn’t take a genius to know that the military took two armored vehicles, one decoy, for these situations. Each vehicle had two transporters, heavily armored and radio communications with the base. One little problem and they would contact the Alliance, and in five minutes the hijacker was under heavy fire. Why go through that trouble and have a heavy casualty loss when you could take them from the warehouse themself? The warehouses had little surveillance and an easily accessible network to hack into if you knew what you were doing.

 

One minute. The virus was sent, and cameras were turned off. She was going through the video feeds, deleting everything from the past twenty-four hours. Jane never imagined that all the hours she spent with her mother building code, and breaking down networks would leave her here, destroying the system that her mother built her career on.

 

Thirty seconds. She watched the timer tick down, pulling her black hoodie down farther. Her stomache twisted in knots, her hands sweating. Everything in her wanted to run from all of this. Jane could imagine her parents’ disappointed faces, a face they wore often when she had rolled her eyes and talked back. 

 

“Zorra, are we good?”

 

She held her ground, her stubbornness keeping her on the rooftop overlooking the Alliance warehouse. She had to survive, but not as Jane Shepard. Jane died on Mindoir alongside her mother and father. She smiled at the nickname Curt had introduced her as. He said her red hair and green eyes reminded him of a fox and that her wit only emphasised the character of the animal from folk stories his grandmother had told him as a child. 

 

From her vantaged pointed, she saw Curt’s maroon hoodie, holding the handgun loosely in his hand. She could hear Curt’s impatience over the comm. He was ready to make a name for himself, to launch himself with guns blazing. He was going to be sorely disappointed when he learned that the warehouse was empty, the security employee on duty had called in sick nearly three hours ago.

 

She tapped the comm in her ear. “We’re good in 3...2...1…”

 

She saw the flash of light before she heard the explosion. The encrypted doors opened with ease, the Reds walking in. Exhaling slowly, Zorra closed her omnitool, rushing to the escape ladder before Alliance shuttles flew in to investigate the remains of their warehouse.

 

~*~*~  
Chora’s Den was alive tonight. The bass roared in her ears and the neon red and blue lights flashed around the room. Her eyes flashed towards the krogan guards, watching the customers, their guns not far from their reach. Asari dancers twisted and moved around the central stage above the bar and around the room. Waitress barely covered served drinks, ready to take credit chits. 

 

Scanning the premise, her eyes narrowed on a human, lounging in one of the plush pleather seats, a beer in on hand. Despite the dark fitted shirt and cargo pants, in the bright red lights she saw the scarred R on his right bicep. It was identical to the one she had, covered by the black leather jacket she wore.

 

She sat in front of him, resting her black boots resting on the small glass table inbetween them. She flicked her wrist, calling for a waitress and ordering a mojito, eyes never leaving the man in front of her. 

 

The man grinned, leaning back in the cushions. “They told me it was you, but I didn’t want to believe it. Zorra grew up and became an Alliance nurse.”

 

“An impatient nurse,” she grumbled. “There are at least three cops scoping the place and I have a pretty good assumption that one of the waitresses serving drinks serves intel to C-Sec. So why don’t you just tell me who are you and what do you want?”

 

The gang member chuckled. “Its nice to see you haven’t changed too much. Name’s Finch. You probably don’t remember me but we use to run together with the Reds,” he explained, taking a drink of the amber liquid. “Maybe you don’t remember yourself, running in a gang. Apparently, all records of you don’t mention it.”

 

She rolled her legs back to the ground, leaning forward in her seat. “Are you so dense that you want to announce to the entire Citadel that you’re involved in a gang? You’ve already asking for C-Sec to investigate you and me both by sending unencrypted messages to my server through a public extranet terminal,” she hissed, taking a long swig of the minty drink. “You can tell the reds my gang days are over. This talk is over.”

 

She stood up, glancing at her omni-tool for the time. The nurse had enough time to get to the medical clinic to meet her roommate for dinner. Maybe they could also find a movie to watch at home.

 

Finch chuckled. “Those are some strong words for a lady with attachments. I don’t think it would look good for your dear brother if word got out that the first human spectre’s sister assassinated a turian ambassador.

 

Every muscle in her body tensed. Jane could reimagine the blood on the walls, a turian lying at her feet. Turning around, she stared coldly at the gang member. “Alright, I'll listen, but not here,” she hoarsely said. “In two hours, meet me by the mass relay on the presidium.”


End file.
